Xi-Biden talks: Blinken to visit China in push for open lines of communication
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will make his first trip to China, the White House announced on Monday following a face-to-face meeting between the presidents of China and the United States that covered the gamut of issues, like US policy towards Taiwan, that have frayed the bilateral relationship.
Reiterating that Washington’s position on Taiwan has not changed, Biden told reporters after the meeting: “I do not think there’s any imminent attempt on the part of China to invade Taiwan.
“I made it clear that we want to see across trade issues peacefully resolved so it never has to come to that … I’m convinced that [Xi] understood exactly what I was saying; I understood what he was saying,” said Biden, who was meeting Xi face to face for the first time since he took office in January 2021.
“We agreed that we would set up a set of circumstances, where on issues that we had to further resolve details, we agreed that we would have the appropriate cabinet members and others sit and meet with one another to discuss the details of every issue that we that was raised, and we raised a lot of issues,” he added.
Biden confirmed that he was sending Blinken to Beijing “to follow up on our discussions and continue keeping the lines of communication open between our two countries”. The White House did not specify when the top envoy would make the trip.