Is Blinken visit a step closer with State Department’s China guru trip?

Experts believe Rick Waters could be paving the way for the US secretary of state to reinstate his cancelled Beijing plans

Waters was accompanied by consular officials during his meeting with senior figures of influential Shanghai think tank

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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken cancelled his visit to China during the balloon crisis in February. Photo: AFP

Published: 4:00pm, 23 Mar 2023Updated: 4:38pm, 23 Mar 2023

The head of the US State Department’s “China House” visited a Shanghai think tank on Wednesday, on a trip that experts say may pave the way for more senior dialogue between the two nations.

Rick Waters, who is also the deputy assistant secretary of state for China, Taiwan and Mongolia, met Yang Jiemian and Chen Dongxiao, former and current presidents of the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS).

Yang, a respected strategic affairs scholar and influential figure in China’s diplomatic establishment, is better known as the younger brother of former foreign policy chief and Politburo member Yang Jiechi, who stepped down in October.

In a post on social media platform WeChat, the SIIS said the two sides “had an in-depth exchange of views on China-US relations and other topics”, without elaborating.

According to a brief SIIS press release, Waters was accompanied by diplomats from the US consulate in Shanghai.

Also joining the meeting were Shao Yuqun, director of the Institute for Taiwan, Hong Kong & Macau Studies, and Zhang Chong, an assistant researcher at the Centre for American Studies.

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