China-US ties: Vice-President Han Zheng to meet Secretary of State Antony Blinken on sidelines of UN General Assembly on Monday

US State Department confirms Han and Blinken will meet in New York amid doubt about the future of a Xi-Biden meeting
Announcement follows meetings between US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Chinese top diplomat Wang Yi in Malta over the weekend

US-China relations

Kawala Xie

Published: 12:37pm, 18 Sep 2023

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Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng will meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday, the US State Department confirmed.

The announcement of a one-on-one meeting came after US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and China’s top diplomat Wang Yi spoke in Malta over the weekend.

The Chinese foreign ministry announced on Friday that Han would attend the UN instead of Wang, who is in Russia this week for annual strategic talks.

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China’s decision to send Han, whose role is largely symbolic and nominal, has sparked speculation because Wang or President Xi Jinping usually represent China to address the annual gathering in New York.

It also added further doubt about the prospects of Xi meeting US President Joe Biden and the Chinese leader’s attendance at the Apec summit in San Francisco in November.

Xi missed the Group of 20 summit in India this month for the first time and without explanation, dashing hopes of a meeting with his US counterpart.

Wang has been invited to visit the US with the hope that this would pave the way for a meeting between the two leaders. China has not said whether it accepted the invitation.

At Sullivan and Wang’s surprise meeting in Malta over the weekend they exchanged “candid, substantive, and constructive” comments.

They discussed multiple contentious issues, including China-Russia ties, Taiwan and the South China Sea, a White House official told reporters in a background briefing following their meeting.

Wang warned Taiwan was “the first insurmountable red line in China-US relations”, according to the Chinese foreign ministry

US and Chinese officials have begun to re-engage over the past few months after Blinken, climate change envoy John Kerry and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo visited China.

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Despite the increased contact, long-standing issues between the two rival powers remain unresolved, with the US rallying allies to block China’s access to advanced technology and challenging Beijing’s military activities in the South China Sea.

Last week, China reportedly held the largest military exercises in months in the western Pacific, seemingly in response to the US and the Philippines’ first joint naval drill in the South China Sea.

On Friday, Beijing slapped fresh sanctions on US defence companies over arms sales to Taiwan.

Military communications between the two countries have been stalled since then US House speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August last year.

Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu, who has now been out of public view for almost three weeks, rejected a meeting with his US counterpart Lloyd Austin for June.