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Washington: Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will visit Beijing following an agreement between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Bali to keep lines of communication open, the State Department announced Wednesday.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement that Blinken will travel to Beijing from June 16 to 21 before heading to London.
“While in Beijing, Secretary Blinken will meet with senior Chinese officials to discuss the importance of maintaining open lines of communication to responsibly manage U.S.-China relations. He will also raise bilateral concerns, global and regional potential collaboration on transnational challenges.”
On Tuesday, Blinken spoke with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang. According to the State Department, Blinken discussed the importance of “keeping lines of communication open” to “avoid miscalculation and conflict.” He also addressed a range of bilateral and global issues and made clear to his Chinese counterparts that the US would continue to use diplomatic engagement to raise “areas of concern” and “areas of potential cooperation.”
When Biden and Xi met in Bali last year, they agreed to stay in touch. According to a White House statement, Biden has told Chinese leaders that while the U.S. will continue to “aggressively compete” with China, that competition must not “become a conflict.” This requires both parties to maintain open communication channels, and Blinken’s visit is also arranged in this way.
But just days before he set off for Beijing in early February, the United States spotted a Chinese surveillance balloon crossing its mainland territory. This sparked public outrage and the trip was postponed. The United States subsequently obtained intelligence that China was preparing to supply Russia with lethal weapons to help Moscow wage a war in Ukraine and put pressure on Beijing to stop doing so.
In May, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan met Wang Yi, a top foreign policy figure in the Chinese Communist Party, in Vienna. HT had reported on May 11 that the conversation would lead to a visit by Blinken to China. A senior administration official later told HT that the visit was in no way meant to “reset” relations or weaken the U.S. approach to China, as set out in its defense and national security strategy document.
“Given the larger strategic environment, as well as the political mood in the United States, Congress is wary of China, and a recalibration of relations with Beijing is unlikely. What Washington hopes is to find a way to calm tempers. Countries entering Washington’s conflict with Beijing show that the US is willing to engage. Diplomacy is about talking. Talking doesn’t mean agreeing,” the person added.
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