U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Beijing on Sunday after months of urging by the Biden administration for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to reestablish normal bilateral communications.
Blinken is the highest-level American official to set foot in China since President Joe Biden took office in 2021, and the first secretary of state to visit since 2018, when his predecessor Mike Pompeo visited China for one day.
Blinken’s arrival kickstarts two days of meetings with senior Chinese officials for talks on managing U.S.-China tensions. In a statement on June 14, the State Department said Blinken “will discuss the importance of maintaining open lines of communication to responsibly manage the U.S.-PRC relationship.”…