Blinken’s China policy speech unlikely to offer olive branch to Beijing
- The US Secretary of State will deliver a major address in Washington on Thursday but little softening expected towards US-China relations
- No details have been provided ahead of the speech but Antony Blinken is expected to outline a ‘no surprises’ strategy which avoids concessions
The speech, hosted by the Asia Society on the campus of the George Washington University, comes amid frustration in the Biden administration over the Chinese government’s refusal to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Criticism in the department’s annual global human rights report also included a dire assessment of the impact of the national security law – imposed by Beijing on Hong Kong in June 2020 – on the city’s political, media and civil spheres.
While Tuesday’s announcement of Blinken’s policy speech included no details about what aspects of the bilateral relationship would be covered, Biden’s comments during a tour of a Javelin missile plant in Alabama suggested the administration is not planning to offer many olive branches.
“There’s an ongoing battle in the world between autocracy and democracy,” Biden said at the Lockheed Martin factory, adding that his time spent with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping helped to reinforce this understanding.