By Simon Lewis
SHANGHAI (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met China’s top official in Shanghai on Thursday as ties between Washington and Beijing stabilise, hoping to resolve on his trip a raft of issues that could jeopardise the newly repaired relationship.
Blinken’s visit is the latest high-level contact between the two nations that, along with working groups on issues from global trade to military communication, have tempered the public acrimony that drove relations to historic lows early last year.
But Washington and Beijing have made little headway on curbing China’s supply of chemicals used to make fentanyl, the South China Sea remains a flashpoint, and strains are growing over Beijing’s backing of Russia in its war in Ukraine.
“I think it’s important to underscore the value – in fact, the necessity – of direct engagement, of speaking to each other, laying out our differences, which are real, seeking to work through them,” Blinken told Chen Jining, the Chinese Communist Party Secretary of Shanghai, as they started their meeting.
Chen said through translators that the recent call between the leaders of both countries helped the “stable and healthy development of our two countries’ relationship”, adding: “Whether we choose cooperation or confrontation affects the well-being of both peoples, both countries, and the future of humanity.”
In addition to local officials, Blinken will meet with business leaders and students before heading to Beijing for talks on Friday with his counterpart, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and a likely meeting with President Xi Jinping.
These meetings could be fraught.
Just as Blinken landed in Shanghai, President Joe Biden signed a rare bipartisan bill that included $8 billion to counter China’s military might, as well as billions in defence aid for Taiwan and $61 billion in aid to Ukraine.
Biden also signed a separate bill tied to the aid legislation that bans TikTok in the U.S. if its owner, the Chinese tech firm ByteDance, fails to divest the popular short video app over the next nine months to a year.
SUPPORT FOR RUSSIA
Blinken will press China to stop its firms from retooling and resupplying Russia’s defence industrial base. Moscow invaded Ukraine days after agreeing a “no limits” partnership with Beijing, and while China has steered clear of providing arms, U.S. officials warn Chinese companies are sending dual-use technology that helps Russia’s war effort.
Without providing details, a senior State Department official told reporters that Washington was prepared to “take steps” against Chinese firms it believes are damaging U.S. and European security.
State-run China Daily said in an editorial that there was “a huge question mark over what the discussions between Blinken and his hosts can yield” and that both sides “have been largely talking past each other.”
“On the conflict in Ukraine, the world can see it clearly that the Ukraine issue is not an issue between China and the U.S., and the U.S. side should not turn it into one,” it said.
Other state media also highlighted the tensions over unresolved issues.
“Plenty of animosity remains, primarily fuelled by Washington’s adherence to a zero-sum mindset and framing China as a threat,” a commentary in state-run Xinhua news agency said.
(Reporting by Simon Lewis; Writing by Antoni Slodkowski; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Miral Fahmy)
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