US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang was positive. He pointed out that very little hope had been pinned on the visit. There was no hope of improvement in relations. Therefore, the decision of both countries to continue the dialogue has been considered in the right direction.
Blinken and Chin held talks for more than five hours on Sunday. During this, Blinken invited Chin to come to America. A separate communique issued by the two countries after the talks mentioned that Chin had accepted the invitation and would visit Washington at a time convenient to both countries.
Analysts have pointed out that after the talks, while the US issued a brief statement, the Chinese statement was relatively long. The US statement only said that Blinken conveyed his concerns about China to the Chinese foreign minister. While the Chinese statement mentioned the issues that Chin raised with the US Secretary of State. The most prominent of these is the issue of Taiwan. According to the Chinese statement, Foreign Minister Chin made it clear that Taiwan is the main issue in the eyes of China and it will not show any softness on it.
According to a Chinese statement, during the talks, Chin made it clear that the US-China relationship is currently in its worst phase since the re-establishment of the relationship in the 1970s. The statements of both countries said that the two sides had ‘frank, concrete and constructive’ talks. Analysts consider the use of the word creative to be significant. He concluded from the talk of blunt talk that both parties freely expressed their grievances about each other.
Blinken stressed the importance of this diplomacy and said that dialogue should be maintained on all issues so that the risk of misunderstanding could be avoided. Before leaving for China from Washington, Blinken had said that the purpose of his visit was to take the path of ‘intense diplomacy’ to counter the challenges facing China. Blinken is understood to have started this diplomacy by starting talks with Foreign Minister Chin and other Chinese officials.
Diplomatic experts have also considered this visit important because no US Secretary of State had visited China for the last five years. Earlier in 2018, the then Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo had visited China. Shortly after that visit, then-President Donald Trump started a trade war against China. Even after Joe Biden became President in 2021, the tension in American relations with China has increased.
