Blinken will depart on April 23 for a four-day trip to China, where he will meet with senior Chinese officials amid heightening tensions, including over China's alignment with Russia and aggressive moves against the Philippines in the South China Sea, Politico reported.
Blinken is also expected to raise U.S. concerns that Beijing is helping Russia build up its defense industry to fight the war in Ukraine.
"China welcomes Secretary of State Blinken to visit China in the next few days," said Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Lin Jian, at a regular press briefing.
Blinken is visiting the world's second-largest economy to help smooth over recent strains, most notably after U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for sharply higher tariffs on Chinese metal products.
"As a matter of principle, we have consistently demanded the United States earnestly respect the principles of fair competition, respect WTO rules, and immediately stop the trade protectionist measures aimed at China," Lin said.
Biden aides said the U.S. president was proposing raising to 25% tariffs imposed by his predecessor Donald Trump on certain Chinese steel and aluminum products. The proposed higher tariff rate would apply to more than $1 billion worth of steel and aluminum products, a U.S. official said.
@PoliticalBuckGreen2wks2W
Traveled to China 7 years ago and loved it...but won't be back. Xi has turned it into a police state, and it's not worth the risk. I feel badly for the Chinese people, who are mostly kind and hospitable, but there are so many other places to go where you don't have to continually be paranoid.
@V0terCrowLibertarian2wks2W
As the security state that Xi has created continues to reverse Deng's policies and tightens its grip on ordinary Chinese, the decoupling will continue apace. Something similar occurred a decade ago in Russia as Putin convinced the west that he was no Gorbachev, but a Stalinist in every sense. Foreign inflows to Russia are nonexistent at this juncture. China is embarking on the same path, it will just take a bit longer to decouple. American businesses will ultimately move their factories to Asia or India.
The CCP will bend when they are in trouble or are weak, but as soon as they get back on their feet, their true face and true intentions will show as they did in recent past.
The question to us is always do we really want to engage with and strengthen an evil regime for economic reasons?
It's about time the world woke up. China steals technology, subverts freedom, and represses dissent. Some values are worth more than money and cheaply made products.
It doesn't matter what the BRICs claim or do, and how they want to replace U.S. lead West. The greatest threat to our future prosperity is our internal threat. The radical left that wants to suppress freedom of speech and the radical right that claims election was stolen. If we manage these two right at home, there isn't another country in this world that can compete with the U.S.
@ISIDEWITH2wks2W
@ISIDEWITH2wks2W
@ISIDEWITH2wks2W
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