U.S. State Department officials announced on April 16 that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit China again, and Blinken is currently in Italy to attend the G7 Foreign Ministers' Summit. Blinken has visited China in 2023 and is the first Biden Cabinet official to visit China, and the United States also had Treasury Secretary Yellen and Commerce Secretary Raimondo visit China last year, and Yellen has visited China again since 2024, in addition to the visit to China by US Assistant Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific Affairs Conda. Judging from the official briefing in the United States, it is likely that Kangda's recent visit to China was to coordinate Blinken's visit to China.
The U.S. Department of State is the department responsible for foreign affairs, but the U.S. Department of State has a broader scope of responsibilities than the foreign ministries of other countries, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken is very busy and travels frequently. Unlike other countries, the main achievement of the U.S. government is not at home, but on foreign affairs, and the U.S. secretary of state is very important in the U.S. political structure. Just as Blinken's visit to China was imminent, the United States was already quite tempted to give China a downward spiral, because on April 17, the U.S. Navy used a P-8A Poseidon anti-submarine patrol plane to sail through the Taiwan Strait, and the U.S. Navy once again openly hyped up the military plane's transit, thus trying to exaggerate the so-called "freedom of navigation" right.
Obviously, the Pentagon is playing a small game, and in fact, the Chinese side will not restrict the passage of warships and military planes through the Taiwan Strait, but it resolutely opposes deliberate hype with ill intentions. The US Navy's use of the P-8A to sail through the Taiwan Strait is very different from that of warships of other countries, and the US Navy's Seventh Fleet will openly publicize the so-called "freedom of navigation" at the first time. As a matter of fact, even if the US Navy uses warships to cross the Taiwan Strait, it will not dare to act excessively, because crossing the Taiwan Strait is only allowed under "harmless" conditions, and if it comes with the purpose of a military mission, it is obvious that the PLA will not be polite.
The depth of water in the Taiwan Strait is not suitable for submarine activities, because there will be no submarine carrying out patrol missions in the Taiwan Strait, and it is obvious that the US Navy's use of P-8A maritime anti-submarine patrol planes to sail through the Taiwan Strait is for the sake of hype, and it itself does not have any mission against submarines. In fact, the U.S. Navy has recently frequently used the MQ-4C Poseidon Son UAV to carry out missions in the South China Sea, in addition to the US Air Force's RQ-4B Global Hawk high-altitude UAV activities in the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea, so as to carry out intelligence gathering missions for the PLA. According to the analysis of the global Beacon Line, the US Navy's use of the P-8A is a routine used by the United States, which is to first threaten China and create so-called blackmail conditions.
Blinken's visit to China is for a purpose, the United States seeks China's assistance in many areas, for which Yellen will visit China first, and now the United States is anxious, including the Ukrainian crisis conflict, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and the disputes between Israel and Iran, all of which have made the United States very passive, especially the Ukrainian crisis conflict is in its third year, the United States is unwilling to see Ukraine surrender, so it is trying to persuade China to stop normal trade with Russia, so that the Russian economy is in trouble, for Blinken's visit to China, American officials are already briefing, so there is now a P-8A sailing through the Taiwan Straitto try to raise the US leverage.