Blinken to wrap up talks in China, may meet Xi Jinping before leaving

BEIJING — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi at the start of the second and final day of a rare visit to Beijing on Monday, aimed at preventing the many disagreements between the rival powers from spiraling into conflict.

The two top diplomats shook hands inside a red-carpeted hall at the Diaoyutai state guest house in Beijing, before talks that State Department officials said lasted for around three hours.

All eyes will be on whether Mr. Blinken will also meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping later in the day, an engagement sources familiar with the matter said was expected but was yet to be confirmed by the State Department or Chinese officials.

He was also expected to meet with US business people in Beijing operating in healthcare, automobile and entertainment industries to hear more on the business climate in China.

Making the first visit to China by a US secretary of state in five years, Mr. Blinken held more than 7-1/2 hours of “candid” and “constructive” talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Sunday.

But, they appeared to make little concrete progress on the wide ranging disputes, which included Taiwan, trade, human rights, stemming the flow of synthetic opioid fentanyl and its precursor chemicals from China, or over their differing viewpoints regarding the war in Ukraine.

Mr. Blinken stressed “the need to reduce the risk of misperception and miscalculation” in his talks with Mr. Qin.

Both sides emphasized the importance of making it easier for their citizens to visit, and agreed on working to increase passenger flights, which boosted Chinese airline shares.

They also expressed a desire to stabilize bilateral ties despite what one US official called their “profound” differences, and agreed that Mr. Qin would visit Washington to continue the conversation, though no date was announced.

“Despite very low expectations for any breakthroughs made during Blinken’s visit to China, there is still hope that both sides can maintain their ‘bottom line’ in the relationship,” state-run Chinese tabloid Global Times said in an editorial on Monday.

Briefing reporters late on Sunday, US officials said there were no illusions that the issues would be solved with a few meetings but starting the conversations was an achievement.

“This is going to be a process of sustained diplomacy,” one senior State Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said.

Mr. Blinken’s trip, which was postponed in February after a suspected Chinese spy balloon flew over US airspace, is closely followed worldwide as further deterioration of ties between the world’s two largest economies could have global implications on financial markets, trade practices and routes and supply chains.

“For this high-level interaction between China and the United States, Taiwan closely grasps the relevant details,” Taiwan Premier Chen Chien-jen told reporters in central Taiwan.

TAIWAN ‘CORE INTEREST’
Sino-US ties have deteriorated across the board in recent years, raising concern the two might one day clash militarily over the self-governed island of Taiwan, which China claims as its own.

Chinese readout of Sunday’s meetings described it as constructive but made clear that Taiwan is the most important issue, and a potentially dangerous one.

“Qin Gang pointed out that the Taiwan issue is the core of China’s core interests, the most important issue in Sino-US relations, and the most prominent risk,” Chinese state media quoted Mr. Qin as having told the top US diplomat.

Especially alarming for China’s neighbors has been Beijing’s reluctance to engage in regular military-to-military talks with Washington.

US officials have been playing down the prospect of a major breakthrough in talks, but they and analysts expect Mr. Blinken’s visit will pave the way for more bilateral meetings in coming months, including possible trips by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

It could also set the stage for talks between Mr. Xi and Mr. Biden at multilateral summits later in the year.

Mr. Biden and Mr. Xi held long-awaited first face-to-face talks on the sidelines of a summit of the Group of 20 big economies in November on the Indonesian island of Bali, engaging in blunt talks over Taiwan and North Korea but also pledging more frequent communication, although ties since then have deteriorated. — Reuters