On the afternoon of the 25th, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Beijing to begin his second visit to China during his tenure. Blinken is full of ambition and has said that he will make concessions to the Chinese side on the Taiwan issue during this trip, will his talks with Wang Yi go smoothly this time? What did Blinken say?
According to the news released by China and the United States, at the "invitation" of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Blinken will visit Shanghai and Beijing successively, and finally hold talks with Chinese officials. Compared with the previous visit to China, the atmosphere between China and the United States this time is much more relaxed.
Last year, due to the so-called "balloon incident", Blinken showed a tough posture and publicly announced the postponement of his visit to China, but he did not expect that Sino-US relations would take a sharp turn for the worse, and bilateral relations would repeatedly bottom out. In order to prevent misunderstanding and miscalculation, it became him begging to visit China again. In the end, after the US side continued to make overtures, the Chinese side agreed with the US side and agreed to open the door to Blinken.
This time, he came "by invitation" and created a harmonious atmosphere for the talks between the two sides in advance and laid the foundation for friendship. It's a pity that with the experience of the previous time, Blinken still doesn't have a long memory, and he just set off to destroy this harmony. Before boarding the special plane to visit China, he posted on social media describing his expectations for the visit. Blinken said he would hold "sustained and direct" face-to-face talks with the Chinese side and talk about "assistance to Taiwan."
On the eve of his departure, the US Congress voted to pass a $95 billion foreign aid bill, which included a series of contents such as providing so-called "aid" to the Taiwan region. What is unbelievable is that Blinken not only focused on the issue of "military aid" to Taiwan with the Chinese side, but also said that after the successful diplomacy of Ukraine and Israel, the US side will strive to "make the same progress" on Taiwan, especially after the aid bill has just been passed, and claimed that this is the "main purpose" of his trip.
The United States wants to "make progress" on the Taiwan issue, in other words, isn't it just to get China to make concessions on the Taiwan issue? The Chinese side has repeatedly stressed that the Taiwan issue is the first red line between China and the United States, and the Chinese side has also repeatedly demanded that the United States stop arming Taiwan and stop military collusion, but Blinken wants to touch the red line in person, or is it the most sensitive topic of military aid.
It is the usual tactic of the US side to create topics and increase bargaining chips before the talks, but Blinken seriously misjudged the situation this time. With regard to the US Taiwan Aid Act, China has stated that it will closely monitor its movements and take resolute and forceful measures to safeguard its sovereignty, security and territorial integrity. Recently, there has been a marked change in the mainland's attitude toward cross-strait reunification, and the PLA mentioned for the first time that "the possibility of peaceful reunification has diminished." This sentence is not only for the Taiwan authorities, but also for the United States, and the PLA will absolutely not allow anyone to cross this red line.
In addition, for Blinken, this visit to China may have more important tasks than the Taiwan issue. China and the United States have already clashed each other on the objectives and demands of this meeting. The U.S. side put forward three goals, and the U.S. State Department threw out topics that Blinken might discuss, including the Middle East crisis, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea issues. It shows that what the US wants is to wield a "big stick" against China in the field of high-tech, China-Russia relations, the Taiwan Strait, and the South China Sea, but it will join hands with China to discuss cooperation in the areas of anti-narcotics, climate change, and military exchanges.
To put it bluntly, the US wants to carry out limited cooperation with China in areas of US interest without changing the overall tone of "competition" with China, and continue to confront China in other areas. In response to the U.S. demands, China replied by backhanding out the "five major goals", the first of which is to "establish a correct understanding", and the current Biden administration's positioning of China as "the most important strategic competitor" and "the most serious geopolitical challenge" is the root cause of Blinken's and the entire U.S. government's erroneous statement on China.
At present, the United States continues to press China step by step on issues such as science and technology, economy, and the Taiwan Strait, and the reason why the Chinese side emphasized this point before the talks is to remind the US side that only by fastening the "first button" of Sino-US relations can bilateral dialogue be meaningful and bilateral relations go in the right direction. The meeting with Wang Yi has not yet begun, and Blinken still has time to prioritize the matter and replan his agenda.