On Monday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, the second and final day of a high-stakes visit aimed at defusing tensions between the world's two largest economies.
This is the first journey to China by a US secretary of state since 2018. He is also the highest-ranking US oficial to visit China since the inauguration of President Joe Biden.
Blinken Meets Xi Jinping
His discussions with Xi Jinping, considered crucial to the success of the mission, were anticipated, but neither party had confirmed them until shortly before they were scheduled to begin.
Prior to their 35-minute meeting in the Great Hall of the People, Xi stated that Blinken had "open and in-depth conversations" with other senior Chinese officials. He stated that the two parties had "made progress and reached an agreement on certain issues."
Per NBC News, Xi stated, "I hope that Secretary Blinken, through this visit, could make positive contributions to stabilizing China-US relations."
Blinken stated that Biden had asked him to visit China "because he believes that the United States and China have a responsibility to manage our relationship responsibly."
The meeting occurred after Blinken held over ten hours of discussions with other senior officials over the course of two days.
At the ornate Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on Monday morning, Blinken and China's foreign policy chief Wang Yi exchanged pleasantries with their advisers, who wore masks in accordance with lingering Covid-19 protocols.
Wang told Blinken, away from the cameras, that his mission "occurs at a critical juncture in China-US relations," as reported by CCTV.
He also issued a warning regarding Taiwan, the self-governing democracy Beijing claims as its own. China has conducted two live-fire military exercises near the island in response to high-level US and Taiwanese official meetings in the past year.
Matthew Miller, a spokesman for the State Department, described the conversation with Wang as "open and fruitful."
US-China Tensions
US officials have expressed concern that China will attempt to acquire Taiwan in the coming years and have insisted that Washington's arms sales to the island are intended to maintain the status quo.
Blinken will address the press before departing China on Monday evening. In recent years, tensions between China and the United States have escalated over various issues, including trade, technology, and Taiwan. Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump identified Beijing as the greatest long-term threat to US global preeminence.
On the sidewalks of Beijing, Sun Yi, 26, expressed her desire to travel to the United States and her optimism that Blinken's visit would improve relations. In November, Xi and Biden met on the margins of the Group of 20 summit in Bali, raising cautious expectations for a thaw.
Blinken abruptly canceled his Bali-agreed-upon February excursion after the United States claimed to have detected and fired down a Chinese surveillance balloon hovering over the United States.
Biden stated on Saturday that he did not believe that the Chinese leadership was aware of the balloon, indicating a divergence with the military, which has been less anxious to restore relations with the United States.
Biden has maintained Trump's tough stance on China and, in some areas, gone even further, such as prohibiting the export of high-end semiconductors to the rising power. Biden has also expressed optimism for limited cooperation in areas such as the climate and a new face-to-face meeting with Xi.
According to NDTV, the next opportunity is anticipated in September when Biden and Xi are both scheduled to attend the most recent G20 summit in New Delhi. Xi has also been invited to San Francisco in November for the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, which the United States will lead.
