The head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, will receive his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, at the end of the week in Washington, senior American officials announced on Monday, October 23. This visit, scheduled from Thursday 26 to Saturday 28, comes in the wake of multiple contacts made in recent months between the Americans and the Chinese who are striving to “responsibly manage” tensions between the two great powers.

The Sino-Russian rapprochement, the war in Ukraine and, above all, that between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas should dominate the discussions, at a time when the international community is worried about an escalation of the conflict in the Middle East. . Beijing strongly deplored in this regard the decision of the United States to block last week a United Nations resolution which called for a “humanitarian pause” between Hamas and the Jewish state.

For Washington, the meeting with Wang Yi will be an opportunity to encourage China to have “a more constructive approach” in these two conflicts, and, beyond that, said a senior American official on condition of anonymity.

“Maintain open communication channels”

There are many areas of friction. From Taiwan, which China claims as part of its territory, to Beijing’s activities in the South China Sea, as evidenced by the latest incident of a collision between Chinese and Philippine ships that Washington strongly deplored. China has also moved closer to Vladimir Putin’s Russia and is striving to extend its influence in the world, including in the Middle East.

This is about “continuing our efforts to maintain open channels of communication” with Beijing and “managing our competition responsibly,” another senior American official told reporters when announcing the visit.

No details were provided on the precise program of Wang Yi’s visit or whether he would be received by US President Joe Biden. During his visit to Beijing in June, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was received by the Chinese president.

The visit could in any case serve to prepare for that of Chinese President Xi Jinping to the United States, possibly on the sidelines of the next summit of APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) countries in San Francisco, California. , in mid-November. Joe Biden has repeatedly expressed his “hope” for a next meeting before the end of the year, while the last face-to-face meeting with his Chinese counterpart dates back to the G20 summit in Bali (Indonesia), in November 2022.

Relationships peppered with tension

Relations between Beijing and Washington are punctuated by tensions, such as during the flight of a Chinese balloon over American territory at the start of the year. In June, Joe Biden offended Beijing by asserting that Xi Jinping belonged to the category of “dictator”. The United States highlights the strengthening of its alliances in Asia, which Beijing considers to be nothing other than a desire to “contain” and “encircle” China.

In recent months, the United States has received in Washington, for a state visit, the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, held a trilateral summit at Camp David (Maryland) with the Japanese and South Korean leaders, strengthened alliances defense with the Philippines and the Pacific Islands. President Biden also made a historic visit to Vietnam and will receive with great fanfare this Wednesday at the White House the Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese.

Joe Biden, who described America as a “beacon” of democratic aspirations in the world, is also asking the United States Congress for an additional 7.4 billion dollars (7 billion euros) to stand up to China, on a military and economic level.