Washington Eying To Visit China Amid Rising Tensions, Claims Report

Amid the declining Sino-US relations, reports are emerging that the White House is considering the possibility of sending multiple US officials to China. According to Sputnik, the Biden administration is planning to take the said initiative in the coming months. With this initiative, the US official is eying to resume interaction with Beijing. Amid the ongoing Taiwan conflict and the growing technological rivalry between the two superpowers, the relations between the US and China have reached their saturation point. The reports are emerging weeks after the Chinese Foreign Ministry summoned the US ambassador to China, to discuss the rising tensions between the two nations. 

According to Sputnik, a US senior official told American media that the list of officials who might visit China shortly will include, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Climate Envoy John Kerry. However, the official made it clear that the priorities of those trips are still unknown. Earlier this month, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang stated in a meeting with the US ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns that the need to improve the ties between the two nations should be prioritised. “The agenda of dialogue and cooperation agreed by the two sides have been disrupted, and the relationship between the two countries has once again hit the cold ice,” he said, as per the statement by the Chinese foreign ministry.

I met State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang today. We discussed challenges in the U.S.-China relationship and the necessity of stabilizing ties and expanding high-level communication. pic.twitter.com/2AYxkXiVMI

— Ambassador Nicholas Burns (@USAmbChina) May 8, 2023

Visits ‘unlikely’ to take place in the next few weeks

The US official who remained anonymous made it clear that the visits are unlikely to take place in the next few weeks since the Biden administration is currently grappling with a major debt ceiling crisis. The US officials are also currently focussing on meetings between the US president and other world leaders at the G7 Summit which will take place in the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The perspective of a bilateral meeting between the officials from the two nations deteriorated after the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called off his trip to Beijing. Blinken called off the meeting after the Pentagon detected multiple Chinese spy balloons flying over the US airspace. If the reports are believed to be true, it will be interesting to see how the whole saga will play out.