BEIJING: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken began meetings in Beijing on Sunday — the first top American diplomat to visit China in five years — amid frosty bilateral ties and dim prospects for any breakthrough on the long list of disputes between the world’s two largest economies.
Having postponed a February trip after a suspected Chinese spy balloon flew over US airspace, Blinken is the highest-ranking US government official to visit China since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021.
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang greeted Blinken and his group at the door to a villa on the grounds of Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guest House, rather than inside the building as is customary.
Chinese assistant foreign minister Hua Chunying, who is attending the meeting, tweeted a picture of Qin and Blinken shaking hands: “Hope this meeting can help steer China-US relations back to what the two Presidents agreed upon in Bali”.
During his stay through Monday, Blinken is also expected to meet with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi and possibly President Xi Jinping.
US officials have since last week played down the prospect of a major breakthrough during the trip, but said Blinken’s primary goal was to establish open and durable communication channels to ensure strategic rivalry between the two countries does not spiral into conflict.
US officials and analysts expect Blinken’s visit will pave the way for more bilateral meetings between Washington and Beijing in the coming months, including possible trips by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
It could also set the stage for meetings between Xi and Biden at multilateral summits later in the year.
Speaking with reporters on Sunday about the balloon incident in February, Biden said he did not think the Chinese leadership knew much about where the balloon was or what it did while adding that he hoped to meet Xi soon.
“I’m hoping that, over the next several months, I’ll be meeting with Xi again and talking about legitimate differences we have but also how there’s areas we can get along,” Biden said.
Biden and Xi held their long-awaited first face-to-face talks on the sidelines of a summit of the Group of 20 big economies in November on the Indonesian island of Bali, engaging in blunt talks over Taiwan and North Korea but also pledging more frequent communication.
While that meeting briefly eased the fear of a new Cold War, the flight of the Chinese balloon over the United States a few months later escalated tension, and high-level communication since then has been rare.
Risk of miscalculation
Ties between the countries have deteriorated across the board, raising concern that they might one day clash militarily over the self-governed island of Taiwan, which China claims as its own.
They are also at odds over issues as varied as trade, US efforts to hold back China’s semiconductor industry and Beijing’s human rights record.
Blinken’s visit will also be closely followed by the rest of the world as any escalation between superpowers could have worldwide repercussions on anything from financial markets to trade routes and practices and global supply chains.
“There’s a recognition on both sides that we do need to have senior-level channels of communication,” a senior State Department official told reporters during a refuelling stop in Tokyo en route to Beijing.
“That we are at an important point in the relationship where I think reducing the risk of miscalculation, or as our Chinese friends often say, stopping the downward spiral in the relationship, is something that’s important,” the official said.
Particularly alarming for China’s neighbours has been its reluctance to engage in regular military-to-military talks with Washington.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday before departing for Beijing, Blinken said his trip had three main objectives: Setting up mechanisms for crisis management, advancing US and allies’ interests and speaking directly about related concerns, and exploring areas of potential cooperation.
He said he would also be raising the issue of US citizens detained in China on charges Washington says are politically motivated.
Blinken and his delegation will also likely discuss increasing commercial flights between the two countries and stemming the flow of fentanyl precursors from China, US officials have said, but cautioned against high expectations of success.
“Both sides are well aware of the current state of the bilateral relationship. We’re coming here in an effort to make sure that we can manage it responsibly,” one US official said.
Top US- China exchanges since Biden took office
Below is a list of some of the other high-level US-China exchanges since then.
Biden-Xi phone call — February 10, 2021
Biden and his Chinese counterpart Jinping held their first phone call as leaders and appeared at odds on issues ranging from trade to human rights, even as Xi warned that confrontation would be a “disaster” for both nations.
First high level meeting — March 18, 2021
The first US and China high-level face-to-face meeting under Biden’s administration was in Anchorage, Alaska. It got off to a fiery start with both sides rebuking each others’ policies in a rare public display that underscored the tensions.
The talks were led on the US side by Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and on the Chinese side by senior diplomats Yang Jiechi and Wang Yi.
Free trade stocks — May 26, 2021
US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and China’s then Vice Premier Liu He held talks virtually, the first such high level trade talks between the world’s two biggest economies since Biden took office.
The people rescued so far included 43 Egyptian nationals, 47 Syrian nationals, 12 Pakistani nationals, and two Palestinians, the Hellenic Coast Guard were quoted by international media outlets. Eight of those rescued were minors.
Earlier, the FIA formed a four-member committee to probe the Greece boat tragedy.
The FIA’s move came after the National Assembly took up the Greece boat tragedy and Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ahsraf ordered the authorities concerned to take stern action against human traffickers.
The directives from the NA speaker came after attention of the House was drawn towards the incident in which dozens drowned, including some Pakistanis, while attempting to enter the country illegally from Libya.
Inspector Hadi Parestan Tanoli, Inspector Abdullah, Inspector Waqar Awan and Sub-inspector Irtaza Ansar were included in the committee. All of these members have been posted in FIA anti-human trafficking section.
The email address and phone numbers of committee members have also been shared and the people have also been advised to share information in this regard whose names would be kept anonymous.
— NA speaker seeks action against human traffickers —
National Assembly Speaker Raja Parvez Ashraf has asked the government to take firm action against the human smugglers as over 290 Pakistanis are feared dead in a shipwreck in south of Greece.
During a session of the assembly, the chair expressed concern over the death of migrants including those from Pakistan in the boat accident. He said the government should take notice of the incident, saying the human smuggling was a grave crime.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Office said a total of 12 Pakistanis were identified among the survivors of the capsized boat off the coast of Greece, but so far the number and identity of Pakistani nationals among the deceased was not yet verified.-Courtesy Reute
