CNN
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken will journey to China within the coming week because the Biden administration tries to make sure that the US-China relationship stays the course, even because the US expresses sturdy issues about China’s assist for Russia.
That is Blinken’s second journey to the nation as prime US diplomat. He visited final yr in an effort to “stabilize” relations following a interval of immense rigidity between Washington and Beijing after an American fighter airplane shot down a Chinese language surveillance balloon that was detected over delicate US navy websites.
President Joe Biden spoke on the telephone with Xi earlier this month, marking the primary dialog between the leaders since their historic in-person summit in November.
“We’re in a special place than we have been a yr in the past when the bilateral relationship was at a historic low level,” a senior State Division official stated.
Blinken will meet with senior Chinese language officers in each Shanghai and Beijing throughout his April 24-26 go to, the official stated.
The official stated Blinken has “three major targets for his journey to China.”
“First, making progress on key points; second, clearly and immediately speaking issues on bilateral regional and world points; and third, responsibly managing competitors,” the official stated.
Blinken plans to “reiterate our deep issues concerning the PRC’s assist for Russia’s protection industrial base,” in addition to its human rights abuses and “unfair financial and commerce practices,” the official stated.
Blinken may even talk about the scenario within the Center East. The US has repeatedly known as on China each publicly and privately to press Iran to train restraint as tensions simmer between it and Israel.
“And naturally, the secretary will talk about challenges within the Indo-Pacific, together with PRC provocations within the South China Sea,” in addition to North Korea’s “threatening rhetoric and reckless actions,” the official stated. Blinken, he continued, “may even reaffirm the significance of peace and stability throughout the Taiwan Strait.”
Throughout Blinken’s journey to China final June, he met in Beijing with prime officers, together with President Xi Jinping. US officers framed the journey as an effort to renew regular channels of communication with China in an effort to keep away from battle between two of the globe’s nice powers.
Blinken additionally met with prime Chinese language diplomat Wang Yi in July for what was described by the US as “candid and constructive” dialog.
The decision got here amid heavy world turbulence — the continued wars in Gaza and Ukraine, in addition to North Korea’s nuclear capabilities, have been subjects of debate.
The 2 additionally spoke about points which have strained the Washington-Beijing relationship, together with Taiwan, China’s current provocations within the South China Sea and Beijing’s human rights abuses.
CNN’s Nectar Gan, MJ Lee and Donald Judd contributed to this report.
