Blinken flies to China for an expected but cold approach

After months of reproaches between USA and China, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinkenflies this Saturday to Beijing to reduce tension with the Asian giant, a long-awaited trip but one that has a limited scope.

The plane of the head of US diplomacy will land on Sunday morning for a visit that was scheduled last February but was postponed after Blinken denounced the presence of an alleged Chinese spy balloon in the United States.

It will be the first time that a US Secretary of State has set foot on Chinese soil since 2018, when Mike Pompeo visited the Asian country on behalf of the Donald Trump Administration (2017-2021), under which bilateral relations deteriorated.

Before leaving, Blinken said at a press conference on Friday that his goal is to establish “stable communication channels” between Washington and Beijing to prevent there being “misunderstandings” between both powers that may lead to a conflict.

The secretary of state is expected to meet in Beijing with the head of Chinese diplomacy, Wang Yi, or with the Chinese foreign minister, Qin Gang, who until last year was ambassador in Washington.

But it is not clear if he will see the Chinese president, Xi Jinpingwho received tycoon Bill Gates on Friday.

“Expectations must be lowered, but it is a good sign that there is an interest in strengthening diplomatic ties”, said Juan Luis Manfredi, head of the Prince of Asturias Chair at Georgetown University, in Washington, in statements to EFE.

The Joe Biden Administration has proposed to manage “responsible” its rivalry with China, that is, to compete commercially with the Asian giant and seek international alliances to isolate it, but always avoiding a direct conflict.

However, the scuffles have been constant due to episodes such as the visit last year to Taiwan by the then Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Beijing’s closeness to Russia in the war in Ukraine.

Still, the mysterious case of the Chinese spy balloon, which Beijing claims was a weather artifact, was used by Blinken as a pretext to cancel his trip to China last February.

Since then there has been a timid thaw operation staged in April by the United States Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, with a conciliatory speech in which she assured that “the world is big enough” for the two powers.

But not all have been good signs. Earlier this month, the Chinese defense minister avoided meeting his US counterpart when they met in Singapore.

And just this week, Washington has accused Cuba of hosting Chinese espionage facilities since at least 2019, something that both Havana and Beijing have strongly denied.

The situation in Taiwan and the war in Ukraine, as well as the fentanyl trade or the imprisonment of American citizens in China are topics that Blinken wants to bring to the table in the meetings.

In turn, the Chinese government has its own agenda, as Minister Qin Gang made clear in a call Wednesday with Blinken in which he urged the United States to cease its efforts to harm China’s sovereign security and development interests. China “in the name of the competition”.

Washington, for example, last year blocked China’s access to its semiconductor sector on the grounds that Beijing wants to use the chips to develop its military industry.

According to Manfredi, the United States “He wants to alleviate the conflict but also mark territory so that China cannot develop.”

Amid this rivalry, both powers are trying to expand their spheres of influence, with China doubling its investments in Africa and Latin America, and the United States tightening ties with the Indo-Pacific.

As a result, you are setting up a “multipolar world” with Washington and Beijing as great powers, but with other regional powers that have not just aligned themselves with either of the two blocs, said the expert.

Source: EFE