US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Beijing this week in a bid to improve communication with China, the State Department said on Wednesday, months after a trip was cancelled when the US downed what it called a Chinese spy balloon.
Mr Blinken will also travel to London to attend a Ukraine conference on the June 16-21 trip.
In Beijing, Mr Blinken will meet senior officials to “discuss the importance of maintaining open lines of communication to responsibly manage the US-[China] relationship”, the State Department said.
China is Washington's top trading partner but also its main competitor on the international stage, and Beijing is expanding its influence from the Indo-Pacific to the Middle East and beyond.
“We expect China to be around and to be a major player on the world stage for the rest of our lives,” said Kurt Campbell, Deputy Assistant to the President and Co-ordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs.
Washington also expects China to continue taking “provocative steps” in the Taiwan Straits, something Mr Campbell said the US would resist.
Washington said it is committed to improving diplomatic channels.
“We will seek to manage the competition,” said Mr Campbell. “And work together where our interests align from a position of confidence in ourselves and in the importance of clear and high level communication with other great powers.”
Mr Blinken will be the most senior US official to visit China since President Joe Biden took office.
He will have a long list of issues he hopes to bring up with his Chinese counterpart and other high-ranking officials during his visit, said Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asia programme at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
“The challenge is really to just get beyond the talking points that both sides come prepared to deliver and really try to make progress on some of these issues,” Ms Glaser told The National.
She says trust between the two powers has “evaporated” in recent years.
The visit, which was agreed between Mr Xi and Mr Biden last year at a meeting in Bali, had been initially planned for February but was postponed after the spy balloon incident in which the US shot down a Chinese aircraft that Beijing insisted was a weather balloon that had strayed off course.
Since then, there have been rare contacts between the US and China due to escalating tensions caused by China's conduct in the South China Sea, its actions towards Taiwan, and its perceived support for Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.
At a congressional hearing on Wednesday, Democratic Congressman Greg Meeks said the US needs to convince other countries that it offers a "credible alternative" to partnerships with Beijing.
"The United States does not want to force countries to choose between China and the United States. But we must make clear that they have a choice," he told the Foreign Affairs Committee.
US officials said the trip was not about deliverables but about establishing “communication channels that are open and empowered to discuss important challenges".
Washington expects Mr Blinken's trip to be the first of a “series of visits” by both US and Chinese officials.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Kanye%20West
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MATCH INFO
Wales 1 (Bale 45 3')
Croatia 1 (Vlasic 09')
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
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Day 4, Dubai Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Lahiru Gamage appeared to have been hard done by when he had his dismissal of Sami Aslam chalked off for a no-ball. Replays suggested he had not overstepped. No matter. Two balls later, the exact same combination – Gamage the bowler and Kusal Mendis at second slip – combined again to send Aslam back.
Stat of the day Haris Sohail took three wickets for one run in the only over he bowled, to end the Sri Lanka second innings in a hurry. That was as many as he had managed in total in his 10-year, 58-match first-class career to date. It was also the first time a bowler had taken three wickets having bowled just one over in an innings in Tests.
The verdict Just 119 more and with five wickets remaining seems like a perfectly attainable target for Pakistan. Factor in the fact the pitch is worn, is turning prodigiously, and that Sri Lanka’s seam bowlers have also been finding the strip to their liking, it is apparent the task is still a tough one. Still, though, thanks to Asad Shafiq and Sarfraz Ahmed, it is possible.
Torbal Rayeh Wa Jayeh
Starring: Ali El Ghoureir, Khalil El Roumeithy, Mostafa Abo Seria
Stars: 3
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Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Liverpool's all-time goalscorers
Ian Rush 346
Roger Hunt 285
Mohamed Salah 250
Gordon Hodgson 241
Billy Liddell 228
WHAT%20START-UPS%20IS%20VISA%20SEEKING%3F
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hall of shame
SUNDERLAND 2002-03
No one has ended a Premier League season quite like Sunderland. They lost each of their final 15 games, taking no points after January. They ended up with 19 in total, sacking managers Peter Reid and Howard Wilkinson and losing 3-1 to Charlton when they scored three own goals in eight minutes.
SUNDERLAND 2005-06
Until Derby came along, Sunderland’s total of 15 points was the Premier League’s record low. They made it until May and their final home game before winning at the Stadium of Light while they lost a joint record 29 of their 38 league games.
HUDDERSFIELD 2018-19
Joined Derby as the only team to be relegated in March. No striker scored until January, while only two players got more assists than goalkeeper Jonas Lossl. The mid-season appointment Jan Siewert was to end his time as Huddersfield manager with a 5.3 per cent win rate.
ASTON VILLA 2015-16
Perhaps the most inexplicably bad season, considering they signed Idrissa Gueye and Adama Traore and still only got 17 points. Villa won their first league game, but none of the next 19. They ended an abominable campaign by taking one point from the last 39 available.
FULHAM 2018-19
Terrible in different ways. Fulham’s total of 26 points is not among the lowest ever but they contrived to get relegated after spending over £100 million (Dh457m) in the transfer market. Much of it went on defenders but they only kept two clean sheets in their first 33 games.
LA LIGA: Sporting Gijon, 13 points in 1997-98.
BUNDESLIGA: Tasmania Berlin, 10 points in 1965-66
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Mobile phone packages comparison
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
LIVERPOOL%20TOP%20SCORERS
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Third Test
Day 3, stumps
India 443-7 (d) & 54-5 (27 ov)
Australia 151
India lead by 346 runs with 5 wickets remaining
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
MATCH INFO
Euro 2020 qualifier
Ukraine 2 (Yaremchuk 06', Yarmolenko 27')
Portugal 1 (Ronaldo 72' pen)
