Antony Blinken to visit China next week and discuss ‘bilateral, regional and global issues’: official

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to China next week to meet Foreign Minister Wang Yi on a “range of bilateral, regional and global issues” including unfair trade practices and industrial overcapacity, a senior US official said ahead of the visit.

The trip from April 24 to 26 comes as the administration of Joe Biden treads a delicate line staying engaged with China even as it adopts tougher rhetoric and trade policy stances in the run-up to the American presidential election in November.

Blinken would spend “considerable time” with Wang during the visit to build on the “intensive diplomacy” conducted over the past year to manage competition and avoid a “miscalculation or conflict”, the official added. The two are expected to discuss counter-narcotics, artificial intelligence, enhanced people-to-people ties and communication between their two militaries.

Behind the camera-ready handshakes and smiles, Blinken would also “clearly and directly” express US concerns over what it sees as China’s growing support for Russia’s defence industrial base as well as tensions in the Indo-Pacific and the Middle East, according to the official.