US Secretary of State Antony Blinken Talks Bilateral and Global Issues with Chinese Counterpart

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by telephone with his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang. “I spoke this evening with the State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Qin Gang. We discussed ongoing efforts to keep communication channels open, as well as bilateral and global issues,” Antony Blinken tweeted.

“The Secretary of State discussed the importance of keeping lines of communication open to responsibly manage the U.S.-Beijing relationship to avoid miscalculations and conflicts, and touched on a series of bilateral and global issues,” said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.in a press release.

The head of the American diplomacy also “made it clear that the United States will continue to use its diplomatic engagements to raise concerns as well as potential areas of cooperation”, added the spokesperson.

Visit to Beijing

Antony Blinken is expected to travel to China next weekend. A visit that had been postponed in February following the incursion of a Chinese balloon into American airspace, American officials announced on Friday.

It will be the first visit by a senior US diplomat to China since his predecessor Mike Pompeo’s trip in October 2018, officials who requested anonymity said last week. A visit which has not yet been officially announced by the US State Department.

Playing the appeasement card after tensions

Last November at the G20 summit in Indonesia, for the first time since Joe Biden entered the White House, the American president and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping met. The two leaders had agreed to cooperate on certain issues during their discussions.

After the episode of the Chinese spy balloon, the two camps have however recently sought to play the card of appeasement, in particular on the occasion of a meeting behind closed doors which was held in May in Vienna between the adviser to White House National Security Jake Sullivan and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. But despite the American promise of a “thaw”, the two countries continue to cross swords on the issues of Taiwan, Chinese territorial claims in the China Sea or even the strategic one of electronic chips.

Source AFP