Blinken plans highest-level US official visit to China since 2018

The Secretary of State is in Saudi Arabia this week for multiple meetings, including a gathering of countries battling the Islamic State terrorist group.

Asked for comment about China plans, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said we “don’t have any travel to announce for the Secretary.” The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not confirm Blinken’s upcoming China visit. Spokesperson Liu Pengyu said only, “China is open to having a dialogue with the United States.”

Blinken can expect sharp criticism from GOP lawmakers for travelling to China in the wake of reports on June 8 that Beijing is in talks with Cuba to establish a foothold there to spy on the United States. Both the US and Cuban governments have denied those allegations.

The Biden administration has been working to renew high-level diplomatic and military communication following a near breakdown over the Chinese spy balloon incident in February. Blinken had originally been scheduled to visit China a few days later and postponed because of the rancour over the balloon.

One of the goals of a trip to Beijing earlier this week by Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink and National Security Council senior director for China and Taiwan Affairs Sarah Beran “was to make sure the lines of communication remain open and to talk about the potential for future visits, higher-level visits,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on June 6.

Chinese Foreign Ministry officials have publicly rebuffed Biden administration outreach in recent weeks citing everything from US export restrictions on high-tech semiconductors, ongoing arms sales to Taiwan and the Biden administration’s rallying G-7 member countries last month to work on “de-risking and diversifying” their economies to rely less on China.

Last month, President Joe Biden predicted a “thaw” in US-China relations. Within days, Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao had flown to the US for meetings with Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai. But Beijing’s denial of a request by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to meet with his counterpart Li Shangfu at the Shangri La Dialogue defence summit in Singapore suggested that bilateral ties remained tenuous.