US Sec State Blinken And Chinese FM Wang Yi To Hold Bilateral Talks At G20

The US State Department has confirmed that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will hold his first meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi since October 2021 at the G20 foreign ministerial in Bali, Indonesia on Thursday.

• The meeting comes at a critical time for the Sino-US relationship. The White House is currently weighing up the relaxation of Trump-era trade tariffs and the two countries have come into verbal conflict over a number of issues including Taiwan, Russia, NATO, AUKUS, Pacific Islands, North Korea, corporate practices, electoral interference, and the QUAD alliance.
• A US State Department official told the Washington Post: “A key goal of the meeting will be to reinforce guardrails on the relationship so that our competition does not spill over into miscalculation or confrontation.”
• This theme of establishing a playbook for relations was also on display during a call between Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He yesterday to discuss economic sanctions and tariffs. The treasury department described the call as the “candid and substantive” and continued “ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication.”