Blinken trying to correct relations with China

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: news agency
2 Feb 20:40

Pelosi's visit to Taiwan last August was considered a major violation of Chinese sovereignty by Beijing.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken listens as President Joe Biden meets virtually with Chinese President Xi Jinping from the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 15, 2022 (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

On Thursday The Financial Times reported, citing informed sources, that Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled a meeting with President Xi Jinping during his visit to China. This will be the first time a senior US diplomat holds a meeting with the Chinese president in five years.

According to the report, Blinken's long-awaited trip to China is scheduled to start on Sunday and last for two days.

John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said on Tuesday that Blinken's meeting with President Xi will be aiming to reinstate some of the bilateral arrangements that China had suspended following Nancy Pelosi's provocative trip to Taiwan last year.

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Back in August Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying had said that "The US side will bear the responsibility and pay the price for undermining China's sovereign security interests."

Following Pelosi's visit, tensions soared between China and Taiwan, reaching their highest in decades on the island after Beijing warned both Washington and Taipei against such a trip.

Since August, China has carried out several large-scale military exercises near Taiwan in response to the visits of high-ranking US officials to the island.

Beijing regards Taiwan as its sovereign territory and promises that it will eventually be reintegrated with the mainland under the "one country, two systems" model. Taiwan has been governed independently since breaking away from mainland China in 1949.