At the invitation of Foreign Minister Wang Yi, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit China from April 24 to 26. This time, the Chinese side struck first, and before the two sides saw each other, sparks were already flying.
On the 23rd, the head of the North America and Oceania Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs gave a background briefing to the media on Blinken's visit to China. At the beginning of the meeting, the person in charge summed up the current Sino-US relations in one sentence: under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, Sino-US relations have shown a trend of stopping decline and stabilizing. At the same time, negative factors in the relations between the two countries are also prominent.
As soon as the news of Blinken's visit to China was confirmed, Western public opinion was overwhelmingly hyped that he would warn China not to "help Russia" and avoid "provocations" on the Taiwan Strait issue. It is a common tactic of the United States and the West to seize the lead and increase the bargaining chips in negotiations, but this also reflects the key contradictions and conflicts between China and the United States, and the Sino-Russian relations and the Taiwan issue are the second of them.
In addition, the US has been clinging to the "technology card" and the "South China Sea card" recently, hyping up China's "overcapacity" and threatening China to make changes, and fabricating rumors that China has taken "unprofessional and dangerous actions" in the South China Sea.
According to State Department officials, Blinken's trip has three goals: to make progress on key issues, communicate concerns about bilateral, regional and global issues, and "manage competition responsibly" to avoid miscalculations or conflicts. In the past half month, although high-level interactions between China and the United States have been intensive, bilateral relations are still stormy due to the "negative factors" on the US side.
If Blinken's visit to China wants to make a breakthrough on this basis, the two sides will have to take the helm, so before Blinken's visit, China has drawn four red lines in a row: Taiwan, democracy and human rights, road system, and development rights. These four red lines correspond to the "six noes and one no" pledge made by US President Joe Biden only in early October.
At the same time, the three major theaters of the People's Liberation Army also gave big gifts. Just after the news of Blinken's visit to China was confirmed, Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun met with Vietnamese Defense Minister Phan Van Giang, and China and Vietnam agreed to set up a new naval hotline, and the Southern Theater and the Vietnamese Navy signed a memorandum of understanding to set up a hotline. The signing of the agreement has directly disrupted the layout of the United States in the South China Sea and smashed the US-Philippine conspiracy to disrupt peace and stability in the South China Sea.
The gift from the Eastern Theater is a strong signal, following Air Force Senior Colonel Zhang Chunhui and Army Senior Colonel Shi Yi, a few days ago, the theater was replaced by a spokesman from the Navy -- Navy Senior Colonel Li Xi. As soon as Li Xi appeared, he caught up with a P-8A anti-submarine patrol plane of the US military to sail through the Taiwan Strait and openly hyped it. In the past, the Eastern Theater chose to "organize troops" and "organize naval and air forces" in response to the passage of US military planes through the Taiwan Strait, but this time, the Eastern Theater directly "organized fighter planes" to monitor and monitor the transit of US planes, and dealt with them in accordance with laws and regulations.
This not only reflects the change in the response thinking of the Eastern Theater, following the first naval defense chief, we have ushered in another spokesman for the Eastern Theater Navy, but also marks a change in the strategic development goals of the PLA, which has changed from inland defense to ocean-going alert. This change also implies a new directive at the highest level of the Chinese side: it is necessary to coordinate preparations for military struggle at sea, the protection of maritime rights and interests, and the development of the maritime economy, and enhance the ability to manage and manage the sea.
The last gift came from the Western Theater of Operations. On the 22nd, Wang Haijiang, commander of the Western Theater General, published a signed article entitled "Shouldering the Mission of Comprehensively Improving Strategic Capabilities in Emerging Fields." In the article, Wang Haijiang pointed out in an unnamed manner that "some countries" regard China as a "major strategic competitor" and will do whatever it takes to create so-called "asymmetric advantages", and that China should keep a close eye on security threats in emerging areas such as the sea, space, and cyber, and maintain a high degree of vigilance to repel invading enemies at any time.
Biden defines China as a "systemic adversary" and uses this as an excuse to undermine China's sovereign rights and development rights.