Blinken's visit to China was not good, China's reception was very good, the White House showed three major goals ahead of schedule, and China's response was unceremoniously, will the US side's calculation succeed?
After more than 10 days of warm-up and hype, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken finally arrived in Shanghai on April 24 to start his second trip to China during his tenure. It is worth noting that after the arrival of Blinken's plane, the Chinese side did not arrange a red carpet, only Kong Fuan, director of the Shanghai Municipal Foreign Affairs Office, and US Ambassador to China Burns were present to greet him. Compared with the red carpet, flowers and honor guard arranged by the Chinese side during German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's visit to China not long ago, Blinken's greeting lineup looked much more "shabby", from which it is not difficult to see two meanings of the Chinese side, one is that it does not have expectations for the expected results of the Sino-US talks, and the other is that it is dissatisfied with the negative public opinion released before Blinken's visit to China.
Before Blinken's plane arrived in China, the G7 countries held a meeting of foreign ministers in Italy, during which Blinken hyped up the issue of China's "aid to Russia", saying that China's move brought a "threat" to the whole of Europe, and at the same time, the United States released news that it would consider sanctioning Chinese banks and financial institutions, with the aim of forcing China to "take the initiative to change the content and method of trade with Russia". In addition to the China-Russia issue, the United States recently threatened to impose three times tariffs on China's steel and aluminum products, expand the control of chips on China to PC products, and at the same time stir up trouble in the South China Sea, dispatching tens of thousands of US troops and aircraft carrier battle groups to participate in the US-Philippines "shoulder to shoulder" joint exercise. What is even more excessive is that the US military has also deployed a "medium-range missile launch system" on Luzon Island in the northern Philippines, the range of which will cover most of China's southeastern coast. Under the pressure of the US side, the Chinese side did not arrange a red carpet to welcome Blinken for any reason.
In addition, Blinken's hotel is called the "Peace Hotel", which has a long history and good specifications, but the focus is on the name, and at the same time, less than 1 kilometer from the hotel, the PLA Type 052D guided missile destroyer "Zibo" docked for the first time on the Bund in Shanghai for the general public to visit. The signal conveyed by the Chinese side is obvious: the US side should choose carefully whether it wants "peace" or "war". In addition, judging from Blinken's itinerary, he will go to Beijing on April 26 to hold talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi, which sends a clear signal that he will have to wait two days to meet Wang Yi, and the US side needs to understand why.
Although the foreign ministers of the two countries have not yet met, the diplomatic game between China and the United States has already begun. Before Blinken's departure, the White House disclosed three main goals for the trip: to make progress on key issues, to articulate and direct concerns on bilateral, regional and global issues, and to manage competition responsibly and avoid miscalculations or conflicts. These three goals can be said to be "unreasonable stirring up three points". The so-called regional issues are concentrated in the Middle East, Russia, Ukraine and other directions, and the US side should not only seek China's help in the regional situation, but also ask China to remain calm and avoid provocative and forceful counterattacks against the United States in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.
In response to this unreasonable act, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has put forward five demands, including "establishing correct understanding, strengthening dialogue, effectively managing differences, promoting mutually beneficial cooperation, and jointly shouldering the responsibilities of major countries", directly setting "rules" for the US side. At present, the talks between the foreign ministers of the two countries are about to be held, and whether the talks can produce results depends on whether Blinken abides by the "rules".