1 year ago
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We begin today with John Hudson of The Washington Post reporting about Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s high-stakes diplomatic trip to China.
China’s foreign minister, Qin Gang, warned Blinken that he should “show respect” during a pre-trip phone call, and made clear his view that Washington alone was responsible for the abysmal state of relations.
But U.S. officials said Blinken remained hopeful that the two nations could move beyond feuding rhetoric and make progress on establishing regular lines of communication — a modest objective given the many existing disagreements over trade, human rights, Taiwan, Hong Kong and cybersecurity. [...]
Many times wealthier and more globally connected than it was in the 1970s, China has been flexing its diplomatic muscles recently, brokering a rapprochement between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran, hosting French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and flirting with the role of peacemaker on the Middle East and the war in Ukraine.
The diplomatic streak has Beijing projecting confidence and independence, but it can ill afford a long standoff with Washington.
