Global Courant
Top US diplomat holds talks with Wang Yi in Beijing amid reports he may also meet President Xi Jinping.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has met with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi in Beijing as the two countries take steps to mend their tense relationship.
The duo posed for a photo at Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on Monday before starting diplomatic talks.
It is still unclear whether Blinken will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping later in the day before ending his two-day trip to the country and flying to London.
The meeting with Wang Yi follows a similar meeting between Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Sunday, which the US State Department described as a “candid, substantive and constructive” effort to maintain “open communication channels”.
With talks lasting more than seven hours, Blinken also invited Qin Gang to the US for a follow-up trip to maintain high-level contacts between Chinese and US officials.
China’s reading of the meeting was also largely positive, saying both sides agreed to expand commercial flights between China and the US and encourage more people-to-people exchanges through student, academic and business groups.
Relations between the US and China have deteriorated amid concerns over a range of issues from Taiwan to semiconductors and human rights (Leah Millis/Pool via AFP)
It also mentioned the meeting of Xi and US President Joe Biden in Bali last year, when both leaders pledged to take more concrete action to improve communication.
While Blinken’s journey has been largely symbolic thus far, it seems to have gone well given the relatively low expectations surrounding it, said Bonnie Glaser, the director of Germany’s Marshall Fund’s Indo-Pacific program.
“Given the deep distrust in the relationship, the visit has so far gone better than I expected. The chance of a breakthrough was nil. We can only hope for baby steps towards a new modus vivendi in the relationship,” she told Al Jazeera by email.
Blinken was originally scheduled to visit China in February, but his trip was delayed by the discovery of an alleged Chinese spy balloon flying over the US collecting intelligence on domestic military sites.
His trip is the oldest by a US official to China since 2019, thanks in part to COVID-19 travel restrictions, and follows several months of increased contact between top US and Chinese officials abroad and through virtual meetings.
Biden said over the weekend that he hopes to meet with Xi again in the coming months, an event likely to take place later this year at the annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group in California.
