US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's trip to China aimed at improving severely strained ties
As United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to conclude his rare visit to Beijing today, diplomats see a meeting of the top American diplomat likely with Xi Jinping, China's president and most powerful leader in decades.
Blinken's trip to China aimed at improving severely strained ties came after Xi's Bali meeting with US President Joe Biden in November 2022, which raised cautious hopes for a thaw in the relationship.
On the final day of the visit, Blinken first met China's top
diplomat Wang Yi, whose position in the Communist Party ranks above the
foreign minister, Reuters reported.
On Sunday, the top US
diplomat held a seven-and-a-half-hours meeting with Foreign Minister Qin
Gang, which was more than expected. The two sides agreed to keep up
communication as they look to avoid conflict.
However, a meeting
between Blinken and Xi has not been confirmed by any of the countries
involved.
Tensions have soared between the world's two largest
economies in recent years on issues ranging from trade to technology to
Taiwan.
US officials say that they do not expect major breakthroughs
from Blinken's talks, but they hope to reopen regular lines of communication
to prevent mishaps from escalating into a major conflict.
Both
countries said Sunday that Qin accepted an offer to pay a return visit to
Washington at a later date.
The talks on Sunday, including a
banquet dinner at the state guesthouse in the Diaoyutai gardens, were
"candid, substantive and constructive", State Department spokesman Matthew
Miller said.
Blinken stressed "the importance of diplomacy and maintaining
open channels of communication across the full range of issues to reduce the
risk of misperception and miscalculation", Miller said.
Behind
closed doors, Qin told Blinken that relations between the United States and
China "are at the lowest point since the establishment of diplomatic
relations", according to state-run broadcaster CCTV.
"This does
not conform to the fundamental interests of the two peoples, nor does it
meet the common expectations of the international community," Qin said
during the talks at the ancient Diaoyutai gardens.
But he issued
a warning on Taiwan, the self-ruling democracy claimed by Beijing, which has
launched live-fire military drills twice near the island since August in
anger over actions by top US lawmakers.
"The Taiwan issue is the
core of China's core interests, the most important issue in China-US
relations and the most prominent risk," Qin said.
A senior US
official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the discussions went
beyond the usual talking points, including on Taiwan.
"This was a
real conversation," he said.
Xi last week struck a conciliatory
note as he met another prominent American, software tycoon turned
philanthropist Bill Gates.
"You are the first American friend I
have met in Beijing this year," Xi told Gates in Beijing, according to the
state-run People's Daily.
"We have always placed our hopes on the
American people, and hoped for continued friendship between the peoples of
the two countries," he added.
