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Blinken will visit China in February to discuss ‘broad array of issues’, State Department says
- Few details revealed for top American diplomat’s trip viewed as potentially paving way for Xi Jinping to attend Apec in San Francisco in November
- Biden administration’s continued urging of Beijing to be ‘fully transparent’ in Covid handling will not affect trip, spokesman adds
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Mark Magnierin New York
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to China next month, the State Department said on Wednesday, offering no specific dates and few details other than that America’s top diplomat hopes to meet with a variety of officials in Beijing.
Blinken’s trip is seen as part of a ‘step ladder’ of future meetings between senior US and Chinese officials to build a minimum level of confidence in the troubled bilateral relationship, potentially leading to President Xi Jinping’s attendance at the Asia Pacific Economic Summit in San Francisco in November.
As part of this process, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with vice-premier Liu He in Switzerland on Tuesday – the first face-to-face meeting of top economic officials in two years – and pledged to meet soon in China and the US.
“Now that we are in early 2023, I would expect that the secretary will have an opportunity to travel to Beijing next month,” said US State Department spokesman Ned Price.
The administration hoped Blinken would “have an opportunity to meet with several interlocutors to discuss the broad array of issues that form the basis of what is arguably the most consequential bilateral relationship in the world”, Price added.
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