Pompeo visit a chance to tamp down tensions

The visit of United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Beijing on Monday is a chance for the two countries to de-escalate trade frictions and conduct high-level communication on the Korean Peninsula issue, analysts said.

Prior to his Beijing visit, Pompeo made stops in Tokyo, Pyongyang and Seoul.

His China visit comes amid tit-for-tat trade tariffs and follows US Vice-President Mike Pence’s speech on Thursday in which he made what Beijing considered “unwarranted accusations” against China’s domestic and foreign policies.

Zhou Fangyin, a researcher at the Guangdong Institute for International Strategies, said on the top of the agenda of Pompeo’s China trip will be trying to ease the deteriorating relations between the two countries as well as the peninsula issue.

The Sino-US trade dispute has affected areas such as security, but the focus is still on trade frictions, Zhou said. “His visit will send a message to the world that high-level exchanges and strategic communication between the two countries are still on track.”

On the Korean Peninsula issue, Washington wants to have some progress on foreign relations to attribute to the incumbent US administration in the midterm election in November, so it hopes to better understand positions from countries involved in the issue, particularly those of China, Zhou said.

Announcing Pompeo’s visit, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement on Wednesday that China and the US will exchange views on bilateral ties as well as regional and international issues of common concern.

Hua said in a separate statement on Friday that China’s policy toward the US is consistent and transparent, and she urged the US to take concrete action to maintain the sound and steady development of Sino-US relations.

The problems between China and the US are, to a large extent, structural, but their ties along with their international influence require them to continue to maintain talks and consultations to avoid unexpected situations, Zhou said.