Blinken faces difficult job with fence-mending China journey

Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to China on Friday for a fence-mending go to amid traditionally excessive friction between Washington and Beijing over Taiwan, brazen worldwide spying makes an attempt, and safety and financial clashes with the U.S. and its allies throughout Asia.

But whereas the Biden administration has cautiously stepped up direct contacts with China’s communist regime, officers says the journey is unlikely to supply a significant easing of tensions.

Administration officers say the journey — initially slated for February solely to be scrapped after a Chinese surveillance balloon was noticed traversing the continental U.S. earlier than being shot down by the Pentagon — goals to maintain traces of communication open between the world’s two most distinguished powers and set up what U.S. officers describe as “guardrails” to maintain the connection from deteriorating even additional.

“We’re not going to Beijing with the intent of having some sort of breakthrough or transformation in the way that we deal with one another,” Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel J. Kritenbrink informed reporters in Washington on Wednesday.

“We’re coming to Beijing with a realistic, confident approach and a sincere desire to manage our competition in the most responsible way possible,” he mentioned.

Mr. Blinken can be not touring with a powerful reservoir of political assist behind him. China has been the main focus of intense, typically bipartisan criticism on Capitol Hill, and the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee mentioned Wednesday Mr. Blinken and President Biden ought to be searching for methods to be even more durable on China.

“The Biden administration is holding again U.S. nationwide safety actions to chase fruitless talks with the [Chinese Communist Party,” Rep. Michael McCaul, Texas Republican, said in a statement. “While diplomacy is an important tool, it cannot come at the expense of our national security. Secretary Blinken must move forward sanctions and export controls and prioritize the protection of American interests during discussions with [Chinese] officers.”

Chinese officers has mentioned they welcome renewed contacts with the U.S., however contend that the Biden administration is in charge for the latest surge in tensions within the bilateral relationship. The official Xinhua information companies reported that Chinese Foreign Minister Foreign Minister Qin Gang informed Mr. Blinken in a pre-visit telephone name early Wednesday that it was “crystal clear” who was accountable to the dangerous blood in latest months.

“It is hoped that the United States will work with China to effectively manage differences and promote exchanges and cooperation, so as to stop the decline of bilateral relations and bring them back to the track of sound and stable development,” Mr. Qin mentioned.
There is speak {that a} productive go to by Mr. Blinken might clear the best way for a potential go to by Chinese President Xi Jinping to a summit of Pacific Rim international locations President Biden will host in San Francisco in November. After his Beijing cease, Mr. Blinken is scheduled to journey on to London for a gathering centered on reconstruction help for Ukraine.

‘No illusions’

While critics say the administration is pandering to a communist regime that employs anti-U.S. rhetoric and seeks to problem American pursuits globally, President Biden’s prime Asia advisor added Wednesday that he has no illusions about what one journey can do.

“We’re clear-eyed about [China],” Deputy Assistant to the President and Coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell mentioned on the phone press convention with Mr. Kritenbrink.

“We know efforts to shape or reform China over several decades have failed, and we expect China to be around and to be a major player on the world stage for the rest of our lifetimes,” mentioned Mr. Campbell. “As the competition continues, [China] will take provocative steps — from the Taiwan Strait to Cuba — and we will push back.”

The point out of Cuba was a reference to the newest irritant in U.S.-China relations — the revelation that China has been working a surveillance put up on Cuba for greater than three years to watch occasions within the U.S. Lawmakers have harshly condemned the trouble whereas Beijing has accused Washington of misrepresenting and hyping the invention to embarrass China.

But U.S.-China friction is hottest over the Washington-backed island democracy of Taiwan, which Beijing views as a part of sovereign China and has vowed to convey below its management — utilizing army pressure if crucial. Successive U.S. administrations have responded to China’s threats by growing American naval exercise across the Taiwan Strait and rallying different regional democracies to protect the established order for the island democracy.

China says it’s the U.S. that has tried to vary the established order by steadily growing army help to the island and rallying allies within the occasion of a army conflict over the island.

U.S. officers have additionally criticized China’s refusal to sentence Russia for invading Ukraine, and expressed concern over Beijing’s building of army bases on disputed islands within the South China Sea. China’s crackdown on democratic and financial freedoms in Hong Kong and its harsh repression marketing campaign towards Uyghur Muslims inside China have been condemned by the U.S. authorities and personal rights teams.

Mr. Blinken would be the most senior U.S. official to go to China since President Biden took workplace in 2021. Regional specialists say his journey might construct on lower-level and behind-the-scenes engagements through the months because the secretary of state’s February journey was canceled.

CIA Director William Burns traveled quietly to China in May, whereas China’s commerce minister got here to the United States. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan additionally held a prolonged May assembly in Vienna with Wang Yi, head of the Communist Party Central Committee’s Foreign Affairs Commission.

Analysts say there could also be progress to be made if the 2 sides comply with disagree on the hot-button points.

“Blinken can build on the beginnings of a U.S.-China diplomatic thaw by making concrete progress on areas of mutual concern (like climate change, health security, and global economic recovery) while working to unwind the escalating dynamics over Taiwan,” mentioned Michael Swaine, a senior fellow with the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. “The trip also offers an opportunity for the Biden administration to assure many American allies and partners that the U.S. shares their interest in avoiding a hostile, zero-sum relationship with China and pursuing constructive cooperation where possible.”

Cautious on Taiwan

Administration critics are extra circumspect, notably with regard to Taiwan.

Some expressed concern following Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Li Shangfu’s blunt assertion in a speech through the latest Shangri-La Dialogue protection convention in Singapore that Beijing will “make no promise to renounce the use of force” if essential to make Taiwan a part of China. Gen. Li declined a U.S. request to satisfy with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Singapore, in obvious protest for U.S. sanctions positioned on him courting again to the Trump administration.

Mr. Qin, the Chinese overseas minister informed Mr. Blinken of their pre-visit telephone dialog this week that Washington should respect China’s place on Taiwan. In a preview of how Mr. Blinken’s journey could unfold, Mr. Qin informed urged the United States to cease meddling in its affairs and harming its safety, in keeping with the Reuters information company.

A extra low-key State Department abstract of the decision mentioned Mr. Blinken careworn the necessity for communication “to avoid miscalculation and conflict” and informed Mr. Qin the U.S. will elevate areas of concern in addition to potential cooperation with China. The name could have been a method to lay down markers for either side on the Taiwan difficulty earlier than talks start Sunday on different issues of concern.

Discussions are individually anticipated to be tense on the difficulty of China’s standing because the world’s main supply of the equipment to supply fentanyl — the lethal artificial drug on the heart of an opioid smuggling disaster alongside the U.S. southern border and abuse epidemic in a number of states.

U.S. lawmakers say the administration ought to be doing extra to stress China to crackdown on illicit manufacturing.

Mr. Kritenbrink informed reporters fentanyl “is one of the most important issues” hanging over Mr. Blinken’s journey. “It will feature prominently,” he mentioned. “And we are focused intently on making as much progress as we can because this is an absolutely critical and urgent issue for the United States.”

Mr. Campbell, in the meantime, careworn that the administration is pursuing “an approach to the [China] that is competitive without veering into confrontation or conflict.”

“Intense competition requires intense diplomacy if we’re going to manage tensions,” he mentioned. “That is the only way to clear up misperceptions, to signal, to communicate, and to work together where and when our interests align.”