US Secretary of State Antony Blinken embarked on a high-level trip to China, aimed at easing tensions and improving communication between the two countries, both sides have tempered expectations for significant breakthroughs during the visit.
On Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken began the highest-level trip by a US official to China in nearly five years as the two powers looked to notch down the temperature in an escalating rivalry.
Both sides have voiced guarded hope of improving communication and preventing conflict, with the world’s two largest economies at odds on various issues from trade to technology and regional security.
Officials have played down hopes of a breakthrough during Blinken’s two days in Beijing.
Blinken was initially scheduled to visit in February, but abruptly scrapped his plans as the United States protested and later shot down what it said was a Chinese spy balloon flying over its soil.
Array of disputes
The United States and China are at odds over several issues, including trade, technology, and Taiwan.
Beijing has not ruled out seizing Taiwan by force, and has conducted military drills twice since August near the self-governing democracy in response to top US lawmakers’ actions.
Beijing has been especially irritated by Biden’s restrictions on exporting high-end semiconductors to China, with the United States fearing their military application and eager to prevent the communist state from dominating next-generation technologies.
In a rising domestic priority for the United States, Blinken is expected to press China to curb precursor chemicals sent to Latin America to produce fentanyl, the powerful painkiller behind an addiction pandemic that kills tens of thousands of Americans a year.
Washington has also lashed China over human rights, with Blinken’s first visit by a cabinet member since the United States formally accused Beijing of genocide against the predominantly Muslim Uyghur minority.
Miroslava Salazar with AFP
