US State Department confirms Blinken will visit China this weekend

US Secretary of State Antony Bliken will be on a rare visit to China this weekend. The top diplomat will seek to reduce the chances of miscalculation in tense relations between the US and China. However, both countries are expecting that long-term tensions will fester. The US has confirmed that Blinken will go to China this weekend.

"Blinken will meet with senior PRC officials where he will discuss the importance of maintaining open lines of communication to responsibly manage the US-PRC relationship," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said, referring to the People's Republic of China.

This is the first visit to China by a top US diplomat in nearly five years. The visit was to take place in February but it was scrapped over the incident of a Chinese spy balloon over the US.

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Ahead of the trip, Blinken spoke with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on the phone and stressed that open lines of communication were important to responsibly manage the relationship between the two countries.

Souring relations

Relations between China and the US have soured in recent years over issues like Taiwan, trade, human rights and many more.

Daniel Kritenbrink, the top State Department official for East Asia, said that the United States was "realistic" about what Blinken could achieve.

"We're not going to Beijing with the intent of having some sort of breakthrough or transformation," Kritenbrink told reporters.

Instead, Blinken is coming with a "sincere desire to manage our competition in the most responsible way possible".

The United States hopes the trip "will, at a minimum, reduce the risk of miscalculation so that we do not veer into potential conflict".

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US leaders across political parties have regarded China as the foremost of US competitor.

"We know efforts to shape or reform China over several decades have failed," said Kurt Campbell, who leads Asia policy at the White House.

"We expect China to be around -- to be a major player -- on the world stage for the rest of our lifetimes," he told reporters.

He added that the US expected China to take more 'provocative steps' over Taiwan.

China considers Taiwan to be its own territory and has not ruled out the use of force to retake the island. Chinese fighter jets and even drones routinely cross the median line of the Taiwan Strait.

China has accused the United States of stirring up trouble in Taiwan through arms sales and visits by senior lawmakers -- allegations rejected by Washington, which says it seeks to preserve the status quo by helping Taipei defend itself.

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China struck a confrontational tone in a readout of the call with Blinken, saying that Qin had warned that relations between the two countries had faced "new difficulties and challenges" since the beginning of the year.

"It's clear who is responsible," Qin said, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.

"China has always viewed and managed China-US relations in accordance with the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation put forward by President Xi Jinping," he added.

(With inputs from agencies)

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