A few days ago, White House officials briefed that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will succeed Yellen and visit China in the coming weeks. At the same time, on April 8, German government spokesman Herbestret also announced at a press conference that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will lead a delegation to visit China on April 13, during which he will meet with Chinese leaders. In addition, on April 9, the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Argentine Foreign Minister Mundino will visit China at the end of April.
It can be said that China's diplomacy ushered in a small upsurge in April. But the visit of senior officials from these countries to China also has a variety of purposes, which also highlights the increasingly important role that China is playing in global geopolitics.
After all, China-US relations are the most important bilateral relations in the world, the Russia-Ukraine war, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Taiwan issue, the South China Sea issue, and China-US trade issues are all issues that need to be resolved through negotiations.
Yellen
However, at this stage, the most important thing for the United States is still the Russia-Ukraine war and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The Russian-Ukrainian war has lasted for more than 2 years, and the failure of the US Congress to pass a new round of military aid to Ukraine has led to the decline of the Ukrainian army has been very obvious, and even Zelensky proposed to accept military assistance from the United States through loans.
In other words, on the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the United States is also in a dilemma, on the one hand, it does not want to see Ukraine completely defeated by Russia, on the other hand, the aid to Ukraine has not been in place for a long time, and the US election is approaching, the United States is very likely to cooperate with China to promote the political solution of the Russian-Ukrainian war, after all, China's status as a neutral country and world influence can play an important role in promoting the political settlement of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Then there is the issue of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, with Israel's air strikes on the Iranian embassy leading to further deterioration of the situation in the Middle East, while the United States has always hoped that China will use its so-called influence on Iran to ease the situation in the Middle East. Against the backdrop of further escalation of the situation in the Middle East, Blinken will certainly repeat the same old tune and let China play a greater role in maintaining peace in the Middle East.
Blinken
Speaking of Scholz's visit to China, Scholz's visit to China was very compact, first to Chongqing, then to Shanghai, and finally to Beijing. He will meet with German executives in China, give a lecture at a university in Shanghai, and conclude with a visit to Beijing and a meeting with Chinese leaders.
There are two main purposes of Scholz's trip: one is Sino-German trade, and the other is the Russian-Ukrainian war. At the instigation of the United States, it is imperative for the EU to contain China in the fields of new energy vehicles, photovoltaics, and batteries. As China's largest trading partner, the deterioration of relations between China and the EU will inevitably affect Sino-German trade. Once the EU intends to tighten the entry standards for China's new energy electric vehicles, this is likely to lead to retaliatory measures by China, and Germany, as the leader of European car companies, will bear the brunt of the trade conflict between China and Europe over this area. Therefore, Scholz's visit to China, the Sino-German trade conference is a core topic, but this move will inevitably displease the United States, because Germany's move shows that it opposes "decoupling and breaking the chain" with China, and will continue to strengthen trade with China, which is inconsistent with the United States' grand strategy towards China.
On the other hand, the Russian-Ukrainian war will also be a topic of concern for Germany, and the Russian-Ukrainian war has caused two irreparable consequences, one is that Europe's geopolitical security has been seriously impacted, and the other is that Europe's capital outflow is serious. Both of these points are closely related to Germany.
Chancellor of Germany
On the one hand, Germany is the junction of Eastern Europe and Western Europe, and the Russian-Ukrainian war has caused great pressure on Germany's geopolitical security.
In addition, in terms of economy, since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, Germany has lost at least 200 billion euros, and the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war has led to rising energy prices, resulting in rising energy expenditures in Germany, and economic growth has also decreased significantly, and the total loss is far more than 200 billion euros. Therefore, Germany hopes that China will play a greater role in the Russian-Ukrainian war and promote the politicized settlement of the Russian-Ukrainian war, which may be an important goal of Scholz's visit to China.
Finally, Argentine Foreign Minister Mundino paid a visit to China. The Argentine Foreign Ministry said that the purpose of Mundino's current visit to China is to strengthen bilateral relations between China and Argentina. But it is clear that this is not the main purpose of Mondino's trip. During the election campaign, Argentine President Milley said that he would not deal with China and would cooperate with the United States and Israel, and it is difficult for Milley to change his attitude on the issue of relations with China in a short period of time.
Argentine Foreign Minister Mundino
Combined with China's suspension of a $18 billion local currency swap agreement with Argentina last year, Mondino's move is likely to be for the sake of a local currency swap agreement. When talking about trade with China recently, Milley also reversed his attitude and said that trade between China and Argentina has not changed, and if people want to do business with China, Argentina will not ban it. In addition, Milley also said that if Argentina wants to change its poor economic situation, Argentina cannot do it without China.
Therefore, Mondino's visit to China does have the intention of repairing relations between the two countries, but in the final analysis, it is still for "money", after all, the Milley government is now having difficulty in promoting reforms, and foreign debts are about to mature. And we know that the United States is relatively satisfied with Milley's attitude towards China, but now that the Milley government is fine-tuning its relationship with China, it is obvious that this will also make the United States unhappy.