A sign of a slowdown in friction between Beijing and Washington? US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will make his second visit to China in less than a year next week, hoping to take advantage of the easing of relations to pressure Beijing to reduce its support for the Russian war machine.
Blinken's trip from Wednesday to Friday is a sign of a further decline in friction between the United States and China, which was exacerbated under former President Donald Trump, who is once again promising a hard line against Beijing if it wins the November elections.
But President Joe Biden, while seeking greater stability between the world's two largest economies, kept up the pressure. In the days before Blinken's visit, the White House tenant jointly met with the leaders of Japan and the Philippines, two US allies wary of Chinese ambitions, and proposed raising tariffs on steel against a China that would not play the game.
Stabilized relationship
“We are in a different situation than a year ago, when bilateral relations were at a historic low,” a senior US official told reporters before the trip was announced on Saturday. “We set out to stabilize bilateral relations without sacrificing our ability to strengthen our alliances, compete vigorously and defend our interests,” he said on condition of anonymity.
Antony Blinken intends in particular to raise with Beijing his support for the Russian defense industry, which impacts the battlefield in Ukraine. Washington acknowledges that China has refrained from providing direct military assistance to Russia, but denounces the transfer of dual-use materials that Russia uses to produce munitions and weapons used in its war against Ukraine.
During a press conference on Friday in Italy, the head of American diplomacy accused China of indirectly “fueling” the conflict in Ukraine: “If China wants to have friendly relations with Europe on the one hand and other countries, it cannot fuel what is the greatest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War.
As a guarantee of rapprochement, Blinken will make a stopover before Beijing in the metropolis of Shanghai, where he intends to encourage the strengthening of cultural ties between the United States and China. The trip follows a recent telephone call between Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well as a visit to China by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
Biden and Xi met near San Francisco in November, where they worked to put the Sino-American relationship back on track, including reestablishing military dialogue at the highest level and pledging to cooperate in the fights against fentanyl, a synthetic drug that is wreaking havoc in the United States.
Blinken also intends to warn Beijing against "provocative" action during the inauguration next month (May 20) of Taiwan's new president, Lai Ching-te, the American official said. Taiwan is a major source of disagreement, with China protesting US arms sales to Taipei, while the United States complains that Beijing intends to change the status quo there.
For Yun Sun, research fellow at the Stimson Center, China is facing a difficult recovery of its economy and is seeking appeasement. Chinese leaders “do not have the means to deal with a belligerent or destabilizing United States at this stage,” she said. “They are not willing to bet that the United States will reengage economically, but they can keep them at bay,” she adds.