At a time when the world’s two greatest powers have been engaged in a tumultuous war of influence for several years now, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Beijing on Sunday for the highest-level visit by a US diplomat in almost five years, with the aim of easing bilateral tensions. The sensitive Taiwan issue will inevitably come up.
While no one is hopeful of real diplomatic progress, given the many areas of friction, the idea remains to initiate a diplomatic thaw and maintain a dialogue to “responsibly manage the Sino-American relationship”, according to the US State Department. The meeting will also provide an opportunity for the two countries to discuss the Taiwan issue.
In this regard, China’s Foreign Minister said on Sunday that Taiwan represented “the most important peril” for relations between Beijing and Washington, according to remarks reported by state broadcaster CCTV.
“The Taiwan issue is the fundamental issue of China’s overriding interests, the most important topic in China-US relations and the most important peril” for them, Qin Gang told his US counterpart Antony Blinken, according to CCTV.
Next year will be an election year in both the USA and Taiwan, which China regards as one of its provinces that it must reunify, by force if necessary.
Maïssa Ben Fares, with AFP
