Sec State Blinken To Travel To China, June 16

The State Department has confirmed that Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to China on June 16 to meet top officials and discuss open lines of communication. The trip may include a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and lay the ground for a Biden-Xi bilateral before, or during, the September 9-10, G-20 Summit in New Delhi.

• Blinken's trip will be the highest level US visit China since 2018 and lay down a marker in efforts to repair ties following an unprecedented deterioration in relations over the past year.
• Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, held a rare call yesterday during which Qin criticised Washington for perceived interference in China’s “core issues” such as Taiwan, and told Blinken that the US must “stop interfering in China’s internal affairs.”
• Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen continued her recent dovish tone on China in testimony to Congress yesterday. She rejected that the US seeks to “decouple” from China and stressed that national security measures are not designed to constrain China’s growth. Yellen: “...it would be disastrous for us to attempt to decouple from China... I certainly do not think it is in our interest to stifle the economic progress of the Chinese people."