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US Foreign Secretary In China To Avoid Cold War

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

BEIJING (Worthy News) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Beijing as part of efforts to ease military and political tensions.

The visit, the first by an American diplomat to China in almost five years, was initially planned for February but was postponed after the U.S. accused China of flying surveillance balloons over military facilities on the U.S. mainland.

Blinken will seek to reestablish diplomatic and military lines of communication to “responsibly manage” the relationship between the two nations, the U.S. State Department said.

“Hope this meeting can help steer China-U.S. relations back to what the two Presidents agreed upon in Bali,” Indonesia, added Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying on the social platform Twitter.

She referred to the November meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping where there agreed to at least continue
discussions on disagreements to avoid a Cold War.

The two sides disagree on Taiwan, with the U.S. Biden wanting to maintain the status quo for the democratically ruled island while Beijing considers Taiwan a part of China and hopes to unite the island politically with the mainland.

Xi has said he hopes to do so peacefully, but Beijing cannot rule out the possible use of force, adding to military tensions.

NORTH KOREA

On North Korea, which has been testing ballistic missiles as part of its declared nuclear weapons program, Biden has said he was unsure if China could control Pyongyang.

Both sides also disagree on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Beijing maintaining and even earning relations with Moscow.

Skeptics doubt that Blinken could bring a breakthrough closer on any of these topics.

Sources familiar with his thinking said Blinken would bring up Taiwan and the Ukraine war, as well as other topics, including human rights concerns in China, the situation in Hong Kong, and Chinese “military assertiveness in the South China Sea.”

U.S. officials said Blinken would raise each of these concerns while playing down the chances of a significant breakthrough.

It was not immediately clear whether he would also speak about the plight of reportedly persecuted Christians in the Communist-run nation.

At home, some have expressed doubts about Blinken’s visit. Members of the U.S. Congress and presidential candidates for elections in 2024 have increasingly labeled China as the “biggest security threat” to the United States.