Blinken meets Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on high-stakes diplomatic trip to Beijing

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken connected Sunday met with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and apical diplomat Wang Yi successful Beijing connected a high-stakes diplomatic ngo to chill U.S.-China tensions that person overshadowed geopolitics successful caller months.

The travel by Blinken makes him the highest-level American authoritative to sojourn China since Joe Biden became U.S. president and the archetypal U.S. caput of authorities to marque the travel successful astir 5 years.

Blinken had "candid, substantive, and constructive talks" with Qin, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said successful a statement Sunday. He raised concerns arsenic good arsenic "opportunities to research cooperation," and helium emphasized the value of unfastened communication, according to the statement.

"The Secretary made wide that the United States volition ever basal up for the interests and values of the American radical and enactment with its allies and partners to beforehand our imaginativeness for a satellite that is free, open, and upholds the planetary rules-based order," the spokesperson said.

Blinken invited Qin to the U.S. to proceed discussions, and the spokesperson said the brace agreed to docket a sojourn astatine a "mutually suitable time." Blinken volition proceed to conscionable with Chinese officials successful Beijing Monday.

His archetypal question plans for February were disrupted by quality of an alleged Chinese spy balloon flying implicit U.S. airspace. The U.S. yet changeable down the alleged spy balloon, and tensions betwixt the world's 2 largest economies person since remained tense. Beijing insisted the balloon was an unnamed upwind tracker that blew disconnected course.

Blinken was acceptable to person a moving meal aboriginal Sunday astatine the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse with Qin, who was antecedently China's ambassador to the U.S. Some reports suggest there whitethorn besides beryllium a gathering with President Xi Jinping connected Monday during Blinken's two-day visit.

Expectations for a important betterment successful the U.S.-China relationship, particularly arsenic a effect of Blinken's trip, stay low. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said successful a connection past week that Blinken volition sermon the value of maintaining unfastened lines of connection and volition "raise bilateral issues of concern, planetary and determination matters, and imaginable practice connected shared transnational challenges."

At the yearly Shangri-La Dialogue lawsuit successful Singapore earlier this month, the U.S. defence main and his Chinese counterpart didn't person a ceremonial meeting. And much broadly, planetary question restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic constricted interaction betwixt the U.S. and Chinese governments.

In August, a controversial sojourn to Taiwan by Nancy Pelosi, past talker of the U.S. House of Representatives, fueled Beijing's ire. Beijing considers Taiwan portion of its territory, with nary close to behaviour diplomatic relations connected its own. The U.S. recognizes Beijing arsenic the sole ineligible authorities of China, portion maintaining unofficial relations with the island, a democratically self-governed region.

Biden's sojourn to Beijing could besides perchance pave the mode for a November gathering betwixt Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi — their archetypal since Bali successful November, a time earlier a G-20 acme kicked off.

In precocious May, the U.S. commerce caput and her Chinese counterpart met successful Washington, D.C. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is besides expected to sojourn China astatine an unspecified time.

China's caller ambassador to the U.S., Xie Feng, arrived successful the U.S. successful precocious May aft a play of astir six months with nary 1 successful that position. Biden said astir the aforesaid clip that helium expected U.S.-China tensions would "begin to thaw precise shortly."

A imaginable accidental for Biden and Xi to conscionable again would beryllium successful November, during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders' Summit that's acceptable to beryllium held successful San Francisco.