Blinken to hold rare talks with China FM on Bali trip: U.S.

Meetings between the United States and China, once routine, had nearly ended during the pandemic and as tensions soared between the world's two largest economies

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will hold a rare meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of a regional conference in Bali this week, the State Department said on Tuesday. File | Photo Credit: AP

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will hold a rare meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of a regional conference in Bali this week, the State Department said on Tuesday.

Mr. Wang and Mr. Blinken, who last met in October, will meet on the sidelines of a Group of 20 ministerial meeting on the Indonesian resort island, the State Department said, amid high tensions on a range of issues including Taiwan.

The meeting comes as U.S. President Joe Biden voices hope for a new conversation in the coming weeks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has not traveled internationally since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The State Department said that Mr. Blinken will also hold talks with his Indonesian counterpart, among others, and then travel Saturday to U.S. ally Thailand for a visit that was cancelled last year after an outbreak of COVID in the top U.S. diplomat's delegation.

Meetings between the United States and China, once routine, had nearly ended during the pandemic and as tensions soared between the world's two largest economies.

Mr. Blinken and Mr. Biden's national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, met in March 2021 in Alaska with their counterparts in a meeting that turned confrontational, with the Chinese officials publicly upbraiding the United States.

But since last month, talks have appeared to become more commonplace, with Mr. Sullivan meeting senior Chinese foreign policy official Yang Jiechi in Luxembourg last month and the two nations' defense chiefs speaking on the sidelines of a conference in Singapore.

Mr. Biden spoke by telephone with Mr. Xi in March for talks that focused heavily on Ukraine, with the United States condemning Beijing's support for Russia but seeing little sign of material support for the invasion.

Mr. Blinken's last talks with Mr. Wang took place in October in Rome.

The meetings come amid growing U.S. concern about Taiwan, which Mr. Biden has vowed to defend if China invades the self-governing democracy that it views as its territory.

Published - July 05, 2022 08:46 pm IST