US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken is visiting China. Photo: AP / NTB
Of NTB | 24.04.2024 07:52:05
Policy: The last time the US Secretary of State visited Beijing was last June, and tensions between the world’s two largest economies have eased noticeably since then.
In November, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited his American counterpart Joe Biden in California. Among other things, the two agreed to restore contact between their respective defences.
Xi also promised to control the sale of chemicals used in the production of fentanyl, a highly potent synthetic opioid that many Americans have become addicted to in recent years.
The tense situation between Beijing and Taiwan will also be a topic during the talks, as will the US’s accusations that the authorities in Beijing are giving Chinese industry unfair advantages through subsidies.
The US is also deeply concerned about China’s cooperation with Russia. Beijing does not supply the country with weapons, but the Americans strongly resent Chinese raw materials and technology finding their way into the Russian arms industry.
– If China on the one hand wants good relations with Europe and other countries, they cannot at the same time be a supplier to Russia, which poses the biggest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War, Blinken said last week.
Blinken begins its visit to China in Shanghai on Wednesday, while the meetings with Chinese leaders will take place in Beijing on Friday.
(© NTB)