No US secretary of state has visited China since 2018, as relations between the two superpowers have gone through several stages of tension, due to geopolitical issues and economic competition, in recent years.
In statements exclusive to ‘Sky News Arabia’, US State Department spokeswoman Hala Gharit said: “We can confirm that Minister Blinken plans to visit the People’s Republic of China and intends to implement this plan as soon as suitable conditions become available and we are able to reschedule this visit.”
It comes at a time when the White House announced on Thursday that National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan had met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Vienna; For “frank and constructive” talks, they agreed to maintain the important strategic channel of communication.
The balloon .. and the cancellation of the first visit
Blinken was due to travel to China last February, to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and his Chinese counterpart, Chen Jang, to decide whether to cancel it after the United States spotted a Chinese spy balloon in their skies. At the time, China downplayed the importance of canceling the US Secretary of State’s visit, saying “none of the parties has officially announced such a plan.” In the days that followed, China repeatedly denied calls from Washington among senior officials after Blinken’s visit was canceled. Basically, the visit was aimed at easing the level of tension between the two rival powers after talks between their presidents in the Indonesian capital, Bali, last November, in addition to keeping communication channels open between the two capitals. Relations between the world’s biggest economies fell to a historic low last year after then-US President Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan. Blinken’s currently scheduled visit is the first by a US secretary of state to China since October 2018, when former secretary Mike Pompeo met with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, in Beijing. Simultaneously, the Chinese Foreign Minister held a meeting with US Ambassador Nicholas Burns, during which he stressed the need to stabilize China-US relations after a series of “bad words and actions” that led to a deep freeze in relations.
Open lines of communication
In her statements to Sky News Arabia, the US State Department spokeswoman returned to talking about Blinken’s planned visit to China, saying:
We won’t cover any details of Secretary Blinken’s possible future travels here. “We see that there are significant opportunities for cooperation between our two countries in several areas, such as climate change and food security, in addition to global health. Therefore, there are many areas in which we see mutual benefits to continued contact”. “We seek competition, not conflict, and our intention has always been to maintain and keep the lines of communication with the People’s Republic of China open.”
Read the Latest World News Today on The Eastern Herald.
