Blinken to travel to China this week as spy balloon fallout eases
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to China this week in a sign that relations between Beijing and Washington are improving after a massive feud erupted in February with the downing of a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that breached U.S. airspace and loitered near sensitive military sites as it traversed much of the country.
The top U.S. diplomat is planning to meet with Foreign Minister Qin Gang and potentially President Xi Jinping as part of a months long effort to reopen lines of communication between the world’s two largest economies amid historically poor relations.
The trip will mark Blinken’s first trip to China as secretary of state and the first time a U.S. secretary of state traveled to China in five years — a large gap in high-level contact U.S. officials are trying to make up for. “There is no substitute for in-person meetings,” said Dan Kritenbrink, the top U.S. diplomat for Asia, in a phone call with reporters on Wednesday.
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U.S. officials have downplayed the likelihood of a significant breakthrough on major issues during the trip, such as the fate of Taiwan, the war in Ukraine and human rights issues, but say Blinken will prioritize raising U.S. “values and interests,” establishing reliable communication channels, and exploring cooperation on climate change and economic issues, said Kritenbrink.
“We’re coming to Beijing with a realistic, competent approach and a sincere desire to manage our competition in the most responsible way possible,” said Kritenbrink.
Blinken’s visit was initially agreed upon by President Biden and Xi during a meeting in Indonesia last year, but was postponed after the spy balloon imbroglio saw both governments cast themselves as the victim of unchecked hubris by the other. In the months since, the two sides have clashed over Taiwan, Ukraine and a series of dangerous encounters between the Chinese and American militaries. On Saturday, the White House disclosed the existence of a Chinese eavesdropping post in Cuba.
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The Biden administration has made clear it is eager to restore ties — in particular to restore military-to-military channels — which U.S. officials say are critical to ensuring that an accident between U.S. ships or planes doesn’t escalate into a military confrontation.
Chinese officials, however, were reluctant to resume communications, concerned that Washington would use a forthcoming FBI investigation into the balloon incident to further embarrass Beijing. Chinese officials have said the aircraft was a weather balloon that was blown off course, and that Washington’s decision to shoot it down was gratuitous following Chinese statements that expressed regret over the incident.
China’s decision to host Blinken suggests that those concerns were allayed in recent weeks — though Beijing has still played hard-to-get in other channels.
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Last month, Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu declined a request for a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on the sidelines of a security conference in Singapore.
The Pentagon said it regretted China’s decision, saying in a statement that it “believes strongly in the importance of maintaining open lines of military-to-military communication between Washington and Beijing to ensure that competition does not veer into conflict.”
The lack of communication between the two countries’ militaries has coincided with multiple close calls between U.S. and Chinese forces in the Pacific, including what the U.S. has described as an “unsafe interaction” between Chinese warship and a U.S. destroyer in the Taiwan Strait and an incident in May involving close maneuvers between Chinese and U.S. warplanes over the South China Sea.
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“It won’t be long before somebody gets hurt,” White House spokesperson John Kirby said earlier this month.
Wang Wenbin, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, said that “the measures taken by the Chinese military are completely reasonable, legitimate, and professional and safe.”
Danny Russel, a China scholar at the Asia Society, said the visit “will be challenging because while both sides have an interest in stabilizing the relationship, they each want to define the steps the other must take to avoid further tensions or worse."
“Secretary Blinken has his own list of concerns and complaints to air with the Chinese side,” Russel added. “He will be mindful of the China hawks at home waiting to pounce on any sign the Biden administration is easing up on Chinese problematic behavior.”
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Source: The Washington Post
