China’s commerce minister to meet US trade representative this month: sources
- Meeting between Wang Wentao and Katherine Tai is ‘likely to be on Apec sidelines’ in Detroit
- No formal announcement has been made but could be sign of more senior in-person contacts to come
The meeting between Tai and Wang Wentao would likely occur on the sidelines of a gathering of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation trade ministers on May 25-26, according to the people, who asked not to be identified citing information that is not yet public.
That event was announced last year, and Wang would be expected to attend under normal circumstances.
But senior-level contacts between Washington and Beijing have been largely suspended since the balloon incident, despite US entreaties.
Also, Chinese leaders have only recently begun to travel overseas again as the country emerges from strict controls imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Neither China’s Ministry of Commerce nor state media has announced Wang is headed to the Apec gathering. A USTR spokesman declined to comment on the matter.
China’s Ministry of Commerce and the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and US envoy break diplomatic ice
There are some indications that communication is set to resume between the world’s two biggest economies, which have seen tensions escalate over US support for Taiwan and export controls restricting China’s access to high-end technology.
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang met US ambassador Nicholas Burns in Beijing on Monday for the first time since Qin took the position, a sign that Beijing may soon allow more senior-level discussions.
“The Qin-Burns meeting suggests that Washington’s time in the ‘penalty box’ may be ending,” said Daniel Russel, a former assistant secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs in the Obama administration.
“Until now, Burns has largely been denied high-level meetings.”
The Pentagon has also submitted a request for Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin to meet Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu in Singapore in June, Bloomberg News reported last week. China has rebuffed Austin’s outreach so far for a call.
Improving relations could open the way to clearing a backlog of bilateral engagements. This includes a long-anticipated phone call between President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and a visit to China by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who cancelled a trip to China as the balloon incident unfolded.
