All eyes will be on whether US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will also meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping later in the day, an engagement sources say is expected but yet to be confirmed by the State Department.
BEIJING, China –US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi on Monday, June 19, at the start of the second and final day of a rare visit to Beijing, aimed at ensuring that the many disagreements between the strategic rivals do not spiral into conflict.
Making the first visit to China by a US secretary of state in five years, Blinken held more than 7-1/2 hours of “candid” and “constructive” talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Sunday, although they did not appear to make concrete progress on the wide ranging disputes that include Taiwan, trade, human rights and stemming the flow of materials from China to the United States used in the production of fentanyl.
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. “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.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.
Especially alarming for China’s neighbors has been Beijing’s reluctance to engage in regular military-to-military talks with Washington.
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