MOSCOW, April 28, Renat Abdullin. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited China for a three-day visit. There, “tough negotiations” awaited him, which, however, was warned about in advance in the United States. The timing for the trip was not chosen: recent decisions by the American authorities risk complicating the already difficult situation between Beijing and Washington.
No red carpet This is Blinken's second visit as secretary of state in less than a year. Relations between China and the United States “reached rock bottom” after the Americans shot down a Chinese balloon over their mainland territory in early 2023. The State Department then canceled the previously planned trip. Later, Beijing was in no hurry to agree on a new date. Nevertheless, in June, Blinken flew to China, but the negotiations did not lead to any tangible improvement.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a visit to China
Now the background was also not the most favorable. Less than a month ago, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited Beijing. She also discussed issues within the jurisdiction of diplomats. It was not possible to achieve any breakthroughs: the head of the Ministry of Finance admitted that she had been having “difficult conversations” with Chinese officials for four days. And the coincidental visit to China of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, which was received at the highest level, completely pushed the Americans out of the information agenda.
Speaking of protocol features: already upon Blinken’s arrival, the difference was obvious. Unlike his Russian colleague, the American was not awarded the red carpet (and not for the first time). And the question of a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping hung in the air.
The Secretary of State made his first stop in Shanghai. He attended a basketball match with American diplomats working in China and also held talks with the secretary of the local party committee, Chen Jining. There, Blinken spoke about the importance of interaction between Washington and Beijing: “We have an obligation to our peoples and, of course, to the whole world, to take a responsible approach to relations between our countries.”
About «responsible attitude» The main part of the visit was in Beijing. There, the Secretary of State was scheduled to hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, as well as a last-minute meeting with President Xi.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Beijing
There are a lot of topics for discussion. The old problems have not gone away: differences on the Ukrainian conflict, the position on Taiwan, the restoration of ties through military channels and the fight against drug trafficking. New challenges have also been added, for example, the Middle East escalation, which the United States wants to contain by convincing Beijing to put pressure on Tehran. Most importantly, as the State Department warned, Blinken intended to “clearly and frankly express concern” about possible military-technical support for Russia from China.
According to Wang Yi, in general, relations between the United States and China are beginning to stabilize. “But at the same time, negative factors are still intensifying and growing. <…> China’s legitimate rights to development have been unreasonably suppressed, and our core interests have encountered problems,” the head of Chinese diplomacy quickly changed his tone.
“We We have always called for respect for each other's core interests and urge the United States not to interfere in China's internal affairs and not to restrain China's development,» Wang also said.
The American guest tried to smooth out the tension that had arisen, calling for a “responsible attitude” to bilateral differences and not focusing on the Moscow-Beijing link. Western media warned in advance: “Blinken’s team is aware that China’s response to pressure on Russia could be a slowdown in progress in other areas of bilateral relations (with the US — Ed.).” In general, the diplomat was under serious pressure. While he was negotiating with the head of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the official representative of the department, Wang Wenbin, spoke openly at a briefing about the “hypocritical” position of the United States regarding the PRC.
Conversation in neat terms The highlight of the program was the subsequent meeting with Chairman Xi at the Great Hall of the People in the center of the Chinese capital.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting in Beijing
«Both sides can have their friends and partners, there is no need to target, oppose and harm each other,” Xi outlined the Chinese position.
“Today the world is faced with numerous difficulties and challenges that require a joint response from China and the United States,” said Blinken, in turn, noting in passing that Washington is not seeking to contain its Asian rival.
The diplomat allowed himself to make relatively harsh statements already at the press conference (without Xi) following the negotiations. «In meetings today, I reiterated our grave concerns about China's provision of components for Russian industry,» Blinken said.
Other, at first glance, not so significant statements eloquently testified: the head of the State Department decided not to escalate. For example, the diplomat admitted that during negotiations with Xi he did not raise the issue of a possible blocking of TikTok. Although this issue became especially acute in the United States after Congress, on the eve of Blinken’s visit, passed a bill according to which the Chinese owners of the network must leave the company.
“The mountain gave birth to a mouse” The decision about TikTok is not the only “fresh” irritant in relations between Beijing and Washington. Recently, American congressmen approved an aid package for Taiwan, in addition, the United States published an annual report on human rights problems in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The topics did not develop during Blinken's visit. Speaking about Taiwan, he only routinely confirmed Washington's commitment to the «one China» policy. And he didn’t mention human rights at all.
People at a rally on the occasion of Taiwan’s National Day
Thus, it is not known for certain what goals the diplomat was able to achieve during his widely publicized trip. The Russian Foreign Ministry reacted sharply to it. “Washington is looking for ways to more effectively and more undermine the Russian-Chinese connection,” noted, in particular, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov. “The visit of the Secretary of State should be assessed from the angle of what the United States is ready to do in terms of increasing shameless and reckless pressure on the PRC «.
Official representative of the department Maria Zakharova, in turn, also recalled attempts to “drive a wedge into the strategic partnership between Russia and China.” “This, unfortunately, is the tactic of a certain part of the political establishment in the United States, which relies on the well-known historical expression “divide and conquer,” and in this case, “chaos and conquer.” It turns out to sow chaos, but it’s not very good to rule,” — the diplomat emphasized.
Judging by Beijing’s rhetoric and the absence of Blinken’s promised “tough” statements, Washington’s attempts to impose its interests again ended in nothing.