It was the Biden administration, not China, that called off Blinken's last proposed trip to Beijing in February only days before it was scheduled to take place. Chinese officials have also refused to expedite a US proposal for President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping to talk directly by phone, the US media reported.
China is particularly angry by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy meeting in California with Taiwan's leader Tsai Ing-wen, Politico said. However, the newspaper said the current pattern of interactions suggests that the US government has been reaching out to Beijing and China has been refusing to respond.
China was also angry about the continuing and growing US arms sales to Taiwan, the report said. China is also freezing out the United States on launching new mutual confidence building measures or creating new or restoring old hotlines for easy communications between leaders in times of crisis, Politico said.
At a press conference on Wednesday, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said that lines of communications between the two countries remain "open."
"Our channels of communications [with China] are open," Jean-Pierre told a briefing.
Washington has conveyed its message to Beijing in recent days, urging China to keep calm, she said, adding that Tsai Ing-wen's trip is private, and there are no reasons to overreact.
"We will continue to keep those channels of conversation open," Jean-Pierre said.
Beijing firmly opposes the transit visit by the Taiwanese leader and her meeting with McCarthy, which it believes contradict the one-China principle and undermine the country's sovereignty, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Tuesday.