Blinken China trip as tension simmers
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will this week pay his second visit to China in less than a year, hoping to use easing tension to press Beijing to curb wartime support for Russia.
His trip – from Wednesday until Friday – marks a further lowering of US-China friction that soared under former president Donald Trump, who is again vowing a hard line if he is returned to power.
But President Joe
Biden, while seeking greater stability between the world’s two largest econ- omies, has kept up pressure.
In the days ahead of Mr Blinken’s trip, Mr Biden met jointly with the leaders of US allies Japan and the Philippines – both wary of China – and moved to raise steel tariffs on a “cheating” China.
“We are in a different place than we were a year ago when the bilateral relationship was at a historic low point,” a senior US official said on Sunday.
“We’ve set out to stabilise the relationship without sacrificing our capacity to strengthen our alliances, compete vigorously and defend our interests.”
High on Mr Blinken’s agenda will be what US officials say is a major push by China that has helped Russia – in the throes of the Ukraine invasion – carry out its biggest militarisation since Soviet times.
US officials say China has stopped short of direct military assistance but has provided dual-use supplies that have let Russia regroup amid a long delay in US aid to Ukraine due to inaction in the House of Representatives, led by Mr Trump’s Republican Party.
Mr Blinken will take the message directly to Beijing after encouraging European allies to make their concerns known with China, which is eager for smooth relations with the West as it faces economic headwinds.
“If China purports to want good relations with Europe and other countries, it can’t be fuelling what is the biggest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War,” Mr Blinken said on Saturday after G7 talks.