THE US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken visits her China over the weekend to attempt a diplomatic disengagement with Beijing and call for “responsible management” of tensions between the two world powers.

“Mr. Blinken will meet there with senior Chinese officials and discuss the importance of keeping channels of communication open for the responsible management of Sino-American relations,” the State Department said in a statement confirming the visit by the head of the of American diplomacy in Beijing.

Sino-American relations remain strained in many areas: US-Taiwan relations, technological competition, trade, Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea.

The visit was postponed in February after a Chinese balloon entered US airspace.

“Since the beginning of the year, Sino-US relations have faced new difficulties and challenges. It is clear who is responsible,” Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang told Anthony Blinken during a phone call today, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.

The minister “clarified China’s official position on the issue of Taiwan”, which is also the main point of friction between the two countries, and pointed out “other important concerns” of Beijing, according to the announcement.

China still considers Taiwan a part of Chinese territory that has not been able to be united with China since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. As a result, Beijing is opposed to any formal relationship between the other countries and Taipei. and accuses Washington of not honoring its previous commitments.

“Calculation errors”

“Qin Gang stressed that the United States must respect (Chinese concerns), stop interfering in China’s internal affairs, and stop, in the name of competition, harming China’s sovereignty, security and development interests.” , also stated in the announcement.

From Washington’s perspective, the summary of the phone call was more upbeat.

Anthony Blinken spoke of the “importance of keeping channels of communication open to responsibly manage relations between the United States and Beijing to avoid miscalculation and conflict,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

Anthony Blinken also made it clear that the United States will continue to take advantage of its diplomatic engagements to highlight issues of concern as well as potential areas of cooperation,” the statement also said.

Last November, for the first time since Joe Biden entered the White House, the US president and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping met during the G20 summit in Indonesia.

The two leaders had agreed to cooperate on certain issues during their talks.

For the first time since 2018

Relations between the two superpowers were tested again after a Chinese balloon flew into US airspace in February.

The US authorities then spoke of a spy balloon, while Beijing gave the assurance that it was a meteorological device that had deviated from its course. At the time, Anthony Blinken had postponed his visit to China at the last minute.

However, recently, the two countries have chosen to play the card of easing tensions in their relations.

For example, a closed-door meeting took place in May in Vienna between White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and the highest-ranking official in the Chinese diplomatic apparatus, Wang Yi.

“China hopes that the United States (…) will work with it to effectively manage disputes, promote exchanges and cooperation, so that China-US relations can be stabilized and return to the path of healthy and systematic development,” Chin Gang told Anthony Blinken today.

Anthony Blinken’s visit to Beijing this weekend will be the first by a US secretary of state to China since Mike Pompeo in 2018.