The historic mission of the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinkin Chinese seemed to have toned down a bit whether between the two superpowers. The same president Xi Jinpingwho had agreed to meet a head of foreign diplomacy and not his counterpart, had spoken of “progress”. Just enough time to get his foreign chief back home, however, that the president Joe Biden immediately raises the tension by defining the Chinese head of state “a dictator”. Lasts replication of Beijing: Biden’s judgments are “absurd and irresponsibleviolate China’s political dignity – said the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning – China expresses disappointment and strong opposition”. Even the Kremlin seizes the opportunity to return to attack Washington: this demonstrates that “the United States is leading a controversial and unpredictable policy“.
What strategy lies behind Biden’s outburst is not yet clear. Discrepancies on the outcome of the talks had already emerged at the end of the first summit between Blinken and the foreign minister Qin Gang. While the former had spoken of constructive dialogue, the second had replied by arguing that relations between China and the United States had been at an all-time low since 1979, i.e. since the two countries officially started diplomatic relations at the embassy level. The positions, as mentioned, seemed to have reconciled during the two successive bilateral meetings. Then, on Wednesday, Biden’s words: “The reason why Xi Jinping got very angry when I had that balloon shot down with two wagons full of espionage equipment – he said – is that he didn’t know it was there. No, I’m serious. That is the great embarrassment for dictators, when they don’t know what happened. She didn’t have to go where she was. He was blown off course through theAlaska and then down across the United States and he didn’t know it. When he was shot down he was very embarrassed and denied even that he was there. We are now in a situation where he wants to be in a relationship again. Antony Blinken just went down there. He did a good job and it will take some time ”, continued the president, adding that we need to worry about China but not too much because he“ has real economic difficulties ”.
Then the president offers his reading of the unprofitable outcome of the talks, attributing to China a broken attitude due to the desire of the United States to strengthen the anti-Chinese alliance in the Indo-Pacific, the so-called Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad): “What Xi was really angry about was that I insisted that we unite the so-called Quad,” continued the head of the White House – He called me and told me not to do it. Because she was putting him in trouble. I said everything we were doing, ‘we’re not trying to surround you, we’re just trying to make sure the international airlines and sea lines stay open’. So now we have India, Australia, Japan and United States working side by side in the South China Sea“.
According to what Federico Rampini writes on CourierHowever, frustrations are also strong within the American administration. In particular, the US would have proposed to Beijing to start a sort of “red phone” among the leaders of their respective armed forces. In essence, it is a question of replicating the tacit agreement in force with the Soviet Union during the Cold War which allowed military leaders to contact each other in situations of high risk for international security and avoid misunderstandings. One way to avoid an escalation between nuclear powers that would lead to one atomic warfare devastating. However, it seems that a resounding ‘no’ has come from Beijing. The reason is understandable: one of the main pressure factors in the hands of the United States is what it concerns Taiwanuncovered nerve of People’s Republic. Blinken, during the last away match, clarified that the goal of Washington “it is not the independence of Taiwan”, but the strategic alliances in the area and the provocations that have been witnessed in recent months, even touching the military incident, tell another reality. Activating a “hotline” would weaken the position taken by Beijing on this specific dossier: “We are willing to use the military strength to enforce the principle of the Unity China”.
Meanwhile, however, the People’s Republic is also speaking of agreements on five fronts, after Blinken’s visit: in a press conference, The Persondirector general of the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs, said that, first, the sides will implement the common understandings reached by Presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden at Baliin the meeting on the sidelines of the G20 of November 2022, in order to “effectively manage differences and promote dialogue, exchanges and cooperation”. In addition, state media reported, China and the US have agreed to maintain high-level interactions. Blinken invited his counterpart “Qin Gang to visit the United States and the latter expressed his willingness to visit at a mutually convenient time.” In the third point, Yang reported that there is a commitment to continue carrying out the consultations “on the guiding principles of bilateral relations”. At the fourth, however, the parties will continue to carry out consultations through the joint working group to address specific issues in the relationship. Finally, China and the US have agreed to encourage more interpersonal and educational exchanges and have had positive discussions on the hypothesis of increasing passenger flights between the two countries. In this context, there is the will to carry out more reciprocal visits by students, academics and businessmen, providing support and facilities in this regard.