Blinken set for high-stakes China trip this week as U.S. pushes for a 'thaw'
NBCJun 14, 2023
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Beijing this weekend, the first Cabinet official to travel to China under the Biden administration, the State Department announced on Wednesday.
Blinken was initially set to visit China in February, but the trip was postponed due to an alleged PRC spy balloon flying across the US airspace.
Blinken's visit can be an important push with China to cool tensions over the Ukraine war, Taiwan, the spy balloon saga, and an alleged China-Cuba spy base. But while the US has been redoubling efforts to mend ties with Beijing, it's yet to be seen whether the PRC is willing to thaw bilateral relations.
Blinken's visit will undoubtedly clear the way for face-to-face communication at a high level. However, a thaw can only be achieved when the US starts respecting China's core interests and taking concrete actions to implement its previous commitments. While the US has indeed changed its rhetoric, there's no signal that its true intentions of containing China have changed.
There's a 15% chance that there will be a US-China war before 2035, according to the Metaculus prediction community.