U.S., China pledge to improve relations, resume high-level talks after Blinken’s visit

The United States and China have pledged to stabilise their worn out ties during a critical visit to Beijing by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met on June 19 with Chinese President Xi Jinping. “It’s in the interest of the United States, in the interests of China, and in the interest of the world.” He described his earlier discussions with senior Chinese officials as “candid and constructive.” Despite his presence in China, Mr. Blinken and other U.S. officials had played down the prospects for any significant breakthroughs on the most vexing issues facing the planet’s two largest economies. Mr. Blinken is the highest-level U.S. official to visit China since President Joe Biden took office, and the first Secretary of State to make the trip in five years. It said the U.S. had a responsibility to halt “the spiralling decline of China-U.S. relations to push it back to a healthy and stable track” and that Mr. Wang had "demanded that the U.S. stop hyping up the ‘China threat theory,’ lift illegal unilateral sanctions against China, abandon suppression of China’s technological development, and refrain from arbitrary interference in China’s internal affairs.” The State Department said Mr. Blinken “underscored the importance of responsibly managing the competition between the United States and the People’s Republic of China through open channels of communication to ensure competition does not veer into conflict.” In the first round of talks on June 18, Mr. Blinken met for nearly six hours with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, after which both countries said they had agreed to continue high-level discussions. Mr. Xi had offered a hint of a possible willingness to reduce tensions on June 16, saying in a meeting with Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates that the United States and China can cooperate to “benefit our two countries.” Since the cancellation of Blinken’s trip in February, there have been some high-level engagements.