Anthony Blinken made it to China on his second attempt

On June 18, Anthony Blinken, according to Reuters, held 5.5-hour talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, whom they know from his recent work as ambassador to the United States. After that, they went to a working lunch at the Diaoyutai residence, refusing to comment to the press. According to the Associated Press, they will hold another meeting on June 19, and Blinken will also likely talk with the top Chinese diplomat, Wang Yi, head of the office of the CPC Central Committee Foreign Affairs Commission. Chinese President Xi Jinping, who, by the way, met with American businessman Bill Gates on June 16.

According to the BBC, among the topics that Blinken discusses with Chinese counterparts are the Ukrainian conflict and Beijing’s role in it, as well as the current state of bilateral relations between Beijing and Washington. The secretary of state himself emphasized at a briefing on June 16 that his goal is to establish “open contacts” with authorized persons. The American representative intends to seek areas of cooperation with the Chinese side, and will also raise the issue of US citizens who, according to Washington, were detained for political reasons. The Taiwan issue and issues of militarization in Asia, Africa and the Middle East remain topical.

“Intense competition requires sustained diplomacy to ensure that competition does not escalate into confrontation or conflict,” Blinken said. Of particular concern to US allies in Asia is China’s unwillingness to participate in negotiations on the line of military departments with Washington, despite the US initiative in this matter.

According to CNN, Blinken’s visit is intended to return relations between the two countries “on the right track” after several months of aggravation. Reuters does not expect a breakthrough on dividing issues, but considers it important to demonstrate that relations are not completely destroyed. At the same time, the parties can also discuss the details of preparing a new meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping. The day before, on June 17, the American President again expressed the hope that he would meet with the President of the People’s Republic of China in the next few months.

The Americans do not want to allow a slide into confrontation with China, or at least want to slow down this process so as not to simultaneously confront China and Russia, says RIAC expert Alexei Naumov. To do this, you need to develop “rules of non-hostility,” he adds. In addition, an important factor is the accelerating election race in the United States, where all candidates will criticize Beijing. Therefore, for Biden, now is almost the last convenient moment when important issues can be discussed with the Chinese. Blinken will probably pronounce on duty the position on Ukraine and the Uyghurs, but without much pressure, Naumov believes.

Until the early 2020s China was very sensitive to contacts with American officials, since then they were always expected to make long-term agreements and expand cooperation, says Alexander Lomanov, head of the Center for Asia-Pacific Studies at IMEMO RAS. Now this illusion has completely disappeared. China now often repeats the thesis that the United States is “disingenuous” by not fulfilling the agreements reached. Now the election campaign is starting in the United States, where absolutely all presidential candidates criticize China and discuss only its containment, continues Lomanov. There is no way out of this spiral of general toughening towards China in the United States, and therefore Beijing can no longer pretend that nothing is happening. The remnants of mutual trust between the two countries are being destroyed right before our eyes, the expert adds, and therefore the only thing that the parties can achieve now is to somehow stop the slide into confrontation, so that on this basis, at best, after several political cycles in the United States, they begin to build relations again.