US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Shanghai on Wednesday with US-China connections on a stronger foundation but with a sizable list of unresolved problems putting a strain on the balance of relations between the two countries.
Before departing to Beijing for deals on Friday with his rival, foreign secretary Wang Yi, and a possible meeting with President Xi Jinping, Blinken may meet with business leaders.
The latest high-level communication between the two countries, which includes working groups on issues ranging from international trade to military communication, has tempered the open acrimony that caused relations to reach historic lows early next year.
Taiwan continues to be a hotspot, and tensions are growing over China’s support of Russia in its conflict in Ukraine. Washington and Beijng have made little progress in limiting China’s supply of substances used to manufacture methadone.
Both nations want “open lines of communication to avoid unpleasant scenarios,” according to Alfred Wu, associate teacher at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, despite the visit’s potential for significant improvement.
Blinken will demand that China prevent retooling and resupplying Russia’s defense-industrial center. In February 2022, Moscow invaded Ukraine, just days after Beijing and China agreed to a” no limits” relationship. US officials are concerned that Chinese companies are sending dual-use technology to support Russia’s war effort.
A senior State Department official presentation investigators on Friday said Washington was prepared to “take ways” against Chinese companies it believes are threatening US and Western security without providing any information.
Authorities told Reuters that the United States has not yet made a decision to impose sanctions on Chinese banks for its aid of Russia.
Due to the effects it might have on the global market and US-China relations, Washington has so far stopped from sanctioning big Chinese banks, which have been much viewed by analysts as a “nuclear” choice.
Since Biden and Xi met in San Francisco in November, relationships “have shown a tendency of stopping collapse and stabilizing,” according to a Chinese foreign ministry national cited by state news agency Xinhua on Tuesday.
But the national criticized what they called Washington’s” arrogant approach of containing China, and its false words and deeds of meddling in China’s domestic affairs, tarnishing China’s image and undermining China’s interests”.
Visit for’ restraint’ over Taiwan
The US Congress made a bill that includes new money for Taiwan less than a month before the democracy controlled beach inaugurates a new chairman, Lai Ching-te, who, like his father, rejects China’s say to the isle.
The older State Department official said parties really “avoid taking provocative activities that may elevate conflicts, and demonstrate restraint” ahead of the opening. ” That will be our communication going ahead”, the official added.
In Congress, a move to force China’s ByteDance to buy the social media app TikTok or face a restrictions in the US is also gaining momentum, a sign of Washington’s growing desire to fight Beijing on financial problems.
Blinken is anticipated to lift other human right, including how China treats Muslims in its northern Xinjiang region.
As part of the wider US effort to keep communication lines open, different US officials have just met or called their Taiwanese counterparts.
Earlier this month, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Beijing and the southern stock hub of Guangzhou, and this week, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen spoke with his Chinese equivalent for the first time in 18 months.
Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, has also been in regular contact with Wang, whose administration claims they are trying to actively control competition between the two capabilities.
Despite the conflicts, there have been efforts to find common ground on issues like the Middle East conflict.
Blinken spoke with Wang and representatives of other nations with ties to Iran after an alleged Jewish attack earlier this month,” to make clear that increase is not in anyone’s attention, and that locations may need Iran not to escalate,” according to a State Department statement on April 11.
Wang Huiyao, the founder and president of the Beijing-based believe container Center for China and Globalization, claimed a meeting with Reuters demonstrated the potential of working together.
” They sell all their oil to China”, Wang said of Iran,” but when China says,’ OK, you simply cease,’ then they have to think about it”.
