Mattis to visit China to ease rising tensions

He will be the first defence secretary in Trump’s administration to visit Beijing

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, who has accused China of “intimidation and coercion” in the South China Sea, is visiting Beijing this week as the countries increasingly spar over US arms sales to Taiwan and Beijing’s expanding military presence overseas.

Mattis will be the first defence secretary in President Donald Trump’s administration to visit China. His trip highlights the need for the US and its chief rival in East Asia to engage each other despite increasingly stark differences and mutual suspicion. Mattis’ mission comes at a difficult time as the Trump administration is set to start taxing $34 billion (Dh124.78 billion) in Chinese goods in two weeks while Beijing has vowed to retaliate with its own tariffs on US products.

The US appears likely to rely on China for help getting North Korea to deliver on denuclearisation promises made at a summit in Singapore between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Militarisation of waters

The South China Sea will likely be near the top of the agenda in discussions between Mattis and Chinese officials, with the US issuing threats against Beijing for its continued militarisation of the waters.

“There are consequences that will continue to come home to roost, so to speak, with China, if they don’t find a way to work more collaboratively with all of the nations who have interests,” Mattis said earlier this month.

He said China’s weapons were placed in the region for “intimidation and coercion.”

Meanwhile, China was seen as taking home a major win when Trump announced at the summit with Kim that the US would suspend joint US-South Korea war games that North Korea and China have long opposed. Both Mattis and South Korea were seen as caught offguard by the decision.

US and South Korean officials now see the pledge as helping advance nuclear negotiations with North Korea. China welcomed the move, and Kim met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing last week but no new measures toward denuclearisation have been announced.

Tangling over Taiwan

China’s complaints about US contacts with Taiwan have grown louder as the US has sought to increase exchanges with the self-ruled island Beijing claims as its territory, and sells more weapons to it. Mattis will likely hear those arguments made even more forcibly after Trump this year signed the Taiwan Travel Act encouraging high-level visits between the two sides.

The US government also approved a $1.4 billion arms sale to Taiwan last year.