Antony Blinken will visit China from April 24 to 26, where he intends to directly raise concerns about Beijing's support for the Russian defense industry, according to a US official.
The American Secretary of State intends in particular to raise with Beijing the question of support for the Russian defense industry. 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
“fuelling”
the conflict in Ukraine:
“If China wants to have friendly relations with Europe on the one hand and other countries, it cannot fuel on the other hand what is the greatest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War
.
Taiwan, major source of disagreement
Antony Blinken will also ask China to avoid
"provocative"
measures during the inauguration of Taiwanese President-elect Lai Ching-te next month, a US 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.
This move is a sign of a further decline in tensions between the United States and China, which were exacerbated under former President Donald Trump, who once again promised a hard line against Beijing if he wins the elections. november. But President Joe Biden, while seeking greater stability between the world's two largest economies, kept up the pressure.
In the days before Antony Blinken's visit, Joe Biden jointly met with the leaders of Japan and the Philippines, two US allies wary of Chinese ambitions, and proposed raising tariffs on
"We are in a different situation than a year ago, when bilateral relations were at a historically low level," he told journalists
.
a senior US official 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.”
Passage through Shanghai
As a guarantee of rapprochement, Antony 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.
The two heads of state met near San Francisco in November, where they worked to put the Sino-American relationship back on track, notably by reestablishing military dialogue at the highest level and committing to cooperate in the fight against fentanyl, a synthetic drug that is wreaking havoc in the United States.
For Yun Sun, research fellow at the Stimson Center, China is facing a difficult recovery of its economy and is seeking appeasement. China's leaders
"do not have the means to deal with a belligerent or destabilizing United States at this stage and they are not willing to bet that the United States will reengage economically, but they can hold it to distance".