Washington and Beijing will try to maintain a level kilter between them on an even keel despite significant disparities on issues like the route to peace in the Middle East and the source of synthetic drugs, which have raised concerns about global security.
The competitors are at odds on several fronts, including Russia’s conflict in Ukraine, Taiwan and the South China Sea, North Korea, Hong Kong, human right and the confinement of American people. President Joe Biden announcing fresh tariffs on Chinese steel imports this past week, which raises additional problems for the US and China.
Blinken will visit Shanghai and Beijing starting on Wednesday for three days of discussions with senior Chinese officials, including Foreign Minister Wang Yi, according to the State Department’s announcement on Saturday. This is his next visit to China in less than a month. Blinken and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to engage in discussions, but neither side will verify that a meeting is taking place until well before it occurs.
Following a phone call this quarter between Biden and Xi, the two leaders pledged to maintain high-level emails, which they had agreed to do last year at a face-to-face conference in California. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has traveled to China since that visit, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has spoken to his Chinese equivalent over the phone. Discussions at lower levels have also occurred.
Despite those contacts, relations are steep. The US has recently voiced more outrage in China over its demands to halt supporting Russia’s military-industrial industry, which Washington claims has allowed Moscow to increase its production of weapons to help the Ukrainian conflict.
“We see China sharing system tools, electronics, another dual-use products that have helped Russia restore the defence industrial foundation that sanctions and export controls had done so much to destroy, ” Blinken said Friday. “Now, if China claims to want good relations with Europe and other countries, it ca n’t, on the other hand, be promoting what has become the biggest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War. ”