2023-06-17 20:07:08
The United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinkwill land Sunday in Beijing four months late. His February visit was canceled because Washington shot down a Chinese balloon and it has been in danger due to reports that Beijing is spying on the United States from Cuba. Only the denial of Washington, added to those of Beijing and Havana, has saved the summit. The stony path reveals deteriorating relationships and precludes any optimism. No one expects two days of Blinken in China to heal the mess.
China has underlined its disinterest in resuming diplomatic ties with Washington during these four months of pilgrimage by European and global South leaders to Beijing. The strategy suggests boredom so that from China is perceived as American cynicism: the gap between his message, which seeks a field of mutual understanding, and his stubbornness in stepping on all the corns.
mixed signals
Washington has been asking for a new appointment for Blinken these months while approving more sanctions on Chinese companies, encouraging its allies to turn off the semiconductor spigot to Beijing, leading a campaign at the G7 summit against Chinese economic coercion and signing trade agreements with Taiwan.. “The United States asks for communication on the one hand and on the other makes an effort to contain China by any means”recently summarized the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after Joe Biden, US president, predicted a “thaw.” “The mixed signals sent by USA They are very confusing and that means that we do not have great expectations in Blinken’s visit, ”he added.
His trip was preceded by a telephone conversation with his counterpart, Qin Gang. The American transcript softened China’s message. According to it, Qin demanded that the United States “show some respect” for Chinese nuclear interests and stop meddling in its internal affairs. The Chinese press is accustomed to awarding generous coverage to the visit of leaders of half-baked countries and that of the United States Secretary of State seems clandestine. In one of the few exceptions, a China Daily editorial calls on Washington to understand the summit as “an opportunity to commit with real action to his announced desire to cooperate with China.” “If, on the contrary, he sees another opportunity to set a lecture, the chances that the visit will bear some fruit will not be very high.” Washington is not overflowing with optimism either. “We are not going to Beijing with the intention of some great achievement or transforming the way we treat each other,” said Daniel Kritenbrink, Asia Pacific’s top diplomat. “We go with a realistic and confident attitude and a sincere desire to deal with our competition in the most responsible way possible,” he added Wednesday.
Distrust
China is wary of the US insistence on maintaining the bilateral summits. According to her perspective, it responds to her intention to reassure her allies about the disturbing drift and to show herself to the world as the party in dialogue. Relations were hopelessly twisted in the final years of the administration Trump and his replacement by Biden have not improved them. Not even the presidential talks calm the climate for a few weeks. Nancy Pelosi, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, traveled to Taiwan just days after a long conversation between Xi Jinping and Joe Biden that both described as sincere and helpful.
“Beijing is no longer predisposed to maintain high-level contacts with the US government because it has become disenchanted with the Biden administration, which is seen by the Chinese political elite as incompetent, ignorant of Chinese culture and history, and extremely arrogant,” this statement summarized. Lanxin Xiang, a professor at the Geneva Institute of International and Development Studies, told the Hong Kong daily Sout China Morning Post. In this context, that Beijing receives Blinken is already news. It is not even clear that Xi will grant him an audience days after concedérsela a Bill Gates.
#ChinaUS #relationship