After months of heightened tensions between the two largest economies in the world, Antony Blinken, US Secretary began discussions with senior officers in China, Beijing this Sunday. This was the beginning of an extremely high-profile tour. Antony is the senior most official in the US to undertake such a tour since President Biden assumed office at the beginning of 2021 and the first secretary of state to visit China in five years.
Observers would be keeping a close eye on developments to see if a collaboration with Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader is likely. The top leader of China and the top diplomat of the United States have frequently met in person on previous tours, but ties are at an all-time low.
Antony Blinken On Working With Biden’s Plans Of Creating Communication Channels
Government representatives from both countries have expressed a lack of optimism about the visit. Earlier this week, a senior Department official of the State told reporters that he did not anticipate “a lengthy set of deliverables.” The trip is instead being framed by US officials as an endeavor to open up normal communication connections with China to prevent a confrontation between the two world’s greatest powers.
Antony Blinken stated this Friday that they had been working on carrying forward the plans made by President Xi and President Biden regarding establishing regular and sustained channels of communication across their government at superior levels to ensure minimum miscommunications. According to a senior State Department source, the main objective of meeting with the foreign minister Antony Blinken in China has been to reopen lines of contact, particularly direct cooperation between Beijing and Washington armies. His entourage arrived in Beijing this Sunday along with a packed agenda for the very first time, which started with a meeting with Qin Gang, China’s foreign minister, who assumed his position around six months ago after serving as Beijing’s ambassador to Washington.
