Current Affairs

“Blinken did a hell of a job,” said Biden, when talking about his Secretary of States visit to China. “I had a candid, substantive meetings. We must make sure that competition does not move into conflict,” said Blinken. The US has moved on from the last meeting between Biden and Xi Jinping, which took part in Bali after the balloon fiasco and Nancy Pilosi’s visit to Taiwan, which has soured the relationship between China and the US.

Though the Chinese newspapers did not agree that the talks had a positive outcome, Blinken argued that the tone had been more positive and the two sides had come to some type of consensus, where they agreed on a number of issues such as food security and climate change.

The core goal for the United States said Blinken, is to de-risk from the Chinese economy, which is to re-calibrate the type of technology that is exported to China. So chips in super computers and hypersonic missiles will not be exported, but all other technology is open for discussion.

The two day visit was meant to create an understanding between the United States and China. Blinken explained that the United States was not de-coupling and that the US was concentrating on creating an equatable relationship, especially on trade. Both the Europeans and G7 have argued that it is imperative that the relationship between China and the Western partners and Japan is de-risked where economic controls are put in place to control the outflow of technology, which they feel would challenge the west militarily.

Blinken pushed hard to get agreements on military to military contacts. He argued that it was important that the military built an understanding and that there is contact at the highest level between China and the US, in order to diffuse tension that may have been caused through misunderstanding or posturing. Blinken pushed for an agreement for meetings between Lloyd Austin the head of the Defence Department and his counterpart in the Department of Defence in China. But China is sceptical of the value that these meetings would have. They believe that it is important to keep the United States guessing about their intentions militarily, and that discussions would give the United States Military an advantage over the PLA.

Where the Chinese were concerned was the relationship that the US has with Taiwan, Blinken assured the Chinese that the US has not moved from its One China policy. This is to say that the United States has not moved from its position that when China opens the door to Taiwan, there will be discussions about Taiwan re-entering the Chinese mainland and that the United States would not support an independent Taiwan, which has been a concern to the Chinese government.

On his return, the Republican’s castigated Blinken, they argued that he had given away Taiwanese independence and had placed Taiwan in a dangerous position. Republican, Ben Cline wrote on twitter that the “Biden admin is giving China the green light to increase it’s intimidation of our ally, Taiwan” But Blinken argued that “We remain opposed to any unilateral changes to the status quo by either side.” But this did not appease Senator Marsha Blackburn, who argued that “Blinken flew to Communist China to appease Xi Jinping and state that the Biden administration does not support Taiwan’s independence.” Blinken went on to say that “our responsibilities under the Taiwan Relations Act included making sure that Taiwan has the ability to defend itself”

There are five NOs to China’s relationship with the US, according to Amanda Hsiao, talking to Crisis Group.

1. United States does not start a Cold War with China
2. The West does not seek to change China or its political system.
3. The West does not support Taiwanese Independence
4. Does not seek a conflict with China
5. The alliance is not directed at China.

In return China has argued that it does not want to change the political or international order and has no intention to challenge or displace the United States as the world power. But there are problems, especially as neither China or the United States are willing to construct a military architecture, rather than a plan of co-existance. Especially as military sensitivities are being challenged every day, the crossing of the bows between warships, warships sailing through disputed waters and the crossing of flight paths by Chinese fighter jets and US military aircraft.

Blinken pushed hard for a military to military hotline, where each side could defuse tensions, as they did in the past. But the Chinese do not want anything to do with the US military and argue that the flash points, the South China Sea and Taiwan Straits are territorial waters which they are defending against US aggression. Blinken argued that without an agreement to open a line of communication between the military, it will be more difficult to manage an event without escalation.

There was an agreement that there would be meetings between Yelland, her counterpart to discuss economic matters, especially the Chinese economy, which the Chinese feel is sluggish and with unemployment that is growing. There are further talks expected, John Kerry has been invited to discuss climate warming. Biden argues that there should be leader to leader discussions, but he does not want them to be unsubstantive as he believes they could be.

According to the Chinese press the talks were a failure and that Blinken had not come to China with any substantive package. However, Blinken has opened the door to further talks, which Biden wants to be substantive, especially on whether there can be a hot phone between the militaries that could descalate a serious incident in either the Taiwan Strait or the South China Sea. Blinken, has come under criticism from Republicans, but as a whole he has not changed US policy in the region. Blinken has done what China had been asking the State Department to do and that is to open the door for negotiations and hopefully a descalation of zones that could have lead to a conflict.