Antony Blinken, the U.S. Secretary of State, touched down in Beijing on Sunday. It is not anticipated that the talks will bring forth anything remarkable. Nonetheless, Blinken's visit to Beijing will help set the groundwork for potential meetings in the future, including a potential meeting between President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping at some point this year.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken finally touched down in Beijing on Sunday for his inaugural visit to China under the Biden administration. This much-delayed meeting between top leaders of the U.S. and China coincides with increased tension amid little expectation of a breakthrough. However, Blinken's visit could be the start of a more promising future, possibly culminating in a face-to-face between President Joe Biden and President Xi Jinping later in the year. Scott Kennedy, an advisor from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, explained to CNBC that this trip could be a "potential important turning point in the relationship", further noting that improving communication between both sides is a feasible aim. If the talks are perceived to have gone well, more cabinet-level meetings could be organized.
Negotiations and talks between the U.S. and China have declined in recent years due to the pandemic and strained diplomatic relations. The U.S. State Department has revealed that Blinken will meet senior Chinese representatives to discuss ways to keep contact open in its relationship with the PRC.Department spokesperson Matthew Miller stated that Blinken aims to bring up issues of concern, global issues, and potential teamwork on worldwide endeavors. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has authenticated the appointment but didn't offer specifics.It's assumed that the U.S.-China relations won't make considerable progress as a result of Blinken's journey, but both parties are attempting to stop their association from deteriorating further. Drew Thompson, a former U.S. Defense Department official and current visiting senior research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, shared that the Biden administration's perspective is to compete where possible and cooperate where required, but China views this differently and won't agree to cooperate if the U.S. is still challenging it politically.
Over the past few months, there has been a great deal of geopolitical tension while the world waited for Blinken to reschedule his visit to China in order to potentially help improve the relations between the two great economic powers. In February, the US shot down a Chinese spy balloon that flew in its airspace, which forced Blinken to postpone his journey to Beijing. The Chinese government said that it was just a weather tracker that had been swept off course. The CEO of the Chinese company, ByteDance's TikTok, was questioned in US Congress in March due to safety worries. China's Foreign Ministry claimed it had never asked companies to go against the laws and provide data from abroad. Furthermore, Beijing stated that the US had provided no proof that TikTok threatened its national security. May saw China barring operators of critical infrastructure from buying Micron products, which had not been able to pass a security assessment. According to Kennedy, the atmosphere in Washington DC is "not as dark as it had been" during February and March, suggesting that the relationship between the two hasn't been static.
Tensions in the South China Sea remain and China's military drills close to Taiwan have not reduced worries from the United States. In the beginning of this month, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command reported that a China battleship sailed within 150 yards (137 meters) of a U.S. destroyer in the Taiwan Strait. Beijing considers Taiwan part of its nation, refusing Taiwan as a separate entity to hold diplomatic negotiations. The U.S. acknowledges Beijing as the primary government of China but preserves unofficial ties with Taiwan, an island self-governed democratically.
Jia Qingguo, a professor at Peking University, stated Tuesday at the Caixin New Asia Vision conference in Singapore that the U.S. ought to fulfill its agreement to the 'One China' policy. He also mentioned China does not want to witness any conflict between the two nations' militaries. According to Jia, to prevent any kind of confrontation, a different set of guardrails must be created for diplomacy and economic relations in addition to the ones that are already there for the armed forces of both countries. Moreover, one of the several disagreements between the U.S. and China is the Ukrainian War, for which China has called for peace discussions and did not designate it as an invasion.
Despite being each other's top trading partners in terms of goods, Wang Wentao, China's Commerce Minister, and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen held meetings in Washington and China, respectively. Looking forward, it is possible that President Xi could attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders' Summit in San Francisco in November. According to Jia, outcomes from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's forthcoming meetings with Chinese leadership should not be overestimated, but it is vital that such meetings occur. Jia remarked that, "It's not typical for two of the world's great powers to rely on the highest levels of leadership to maintain ties. It is actually quite dangerous." --CNBC's Clement Tan was a contributor to this report.
コメント