US Sec State Blinken Meets China's Top Diplomat Wang Yi In Jakarta

Wires reporting that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has held a meeting with China's top diplomat Wang Yi on the sidelines of the annual ASEAN meeting of foreign ministers in Jakarta, Indonesia.

• The meeting is the second in month between Blinken and Wang as momentum gathers in attempts to stabilise ties between the countries.
• Earlier today, China announced that it was open to US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo traveling to China to meet with Chinese officials - a key player in US policy on export controls.
• The Biden administration has advanced a message that commercial ties can be maintained despite serious fissures on national security issues. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen assured Beijing last week that diversifying supply chains in "narrow areas" wasn't comparable to "de-coupling," and didn't amount to a strategic blockade on the Chinese economy.
• Yellen reportedly also discussed the prospect of easing some Trump-era trade tariffs but a hawkish Congress is unlikely to approve such measures.
• Bloomberg notes that the recent uptick in diplomatic engagements may be undermined by White House plans to impose new restrictions on quantum computing, artificial intelligence and semiconductors.