But the climate between the parties remains far from cordial and the disputes have contributed to significantly lowering expectations of a timely relaunch of bilateral relations both in Washington and in Beijing
US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, began his two-day visit to China this morning. Blinken, who has already met the foreign minister, Qin Gang, is the first secretary of state to travel to the Chinese capital in five years now, at a time when tension between the two superpowers for supremacy in the technological field and for influence over the Indo-Pacific is very high . Beijing, the head of US diplomacy will probably hold talks with the president Xi Jinping, with which he intends to discuss the importance of keeping lines of communication open to manage relationships “responsibly” and issues of mutual interest on a regional and global level. However, the trip had been preceded by a possible sign of easing. The semiconductor giant Micron announced a 4.3 billion yuan ($603 million) investment to expand its factory at Xi’andespite Beijing having banned the sale of some of its products deemed risky to national security.
But the climate between the parties remains anything but cordial and the disputes have contributed to significantly lowering expectations of a timely relaunch of bilateral relations both Washington as to Beijing. As the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs reported this week, Daniel KritenbrinkBlinken will go to China “with a realistic approach” and “a sincere desire to manage the competition as responsibly as possible”, but the US does not expect “significant breakthroughs” in the bilateral relationship. The signals from Beijing are no longer reassuring. In the press conference on Friday, the Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin in fact, he clarified that “the United States should not believe it can negotiate with Beijing from a position of strength” and that “there can be no communication if mutual interests are damaged”.
Subscribe to the newsletter