US Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Beijing to meet top Chinese officials on June 18, in what appears to be an attempt to salvage Sino-American relations that have already reached their “lowest point” since the establishing of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
Blinken’s visit takes place as the United States continues to stoke tensions around Taiwan and criticize Chinese initiatives, such as Beijing’s plan for the peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict.
Discussing this complicated situation, geopolitical commentator and Asia-Pacific affairs consultant Thomas W. Pauken II told Sputnik that it probably would not be fair to blame the US alone for this state of affairs since, as he put it, “there's always been mistakes on both sides.”
“However, Washington has probably caused more problems than the Chinese side has done,” said Pauken.
Describing today’s meeting between Blinken and Chinese President Xi Jinping as a positive development, Pauken argued that neither the United States nor China want to wage war against one another.
“But we've had false hopes before and high expectations before and then US-China relations got worse. So I don't believe either side is expecting much even from Blinken's visit,” he cautioned. “But at least Blinken and Xi are trying to create the right conditions to at least turn the tide and make some improvements.”
Regarding the issues that complicate the relations between the US and China, Pauken named Washington’s foreign policy approach as the chief factor.
“The US foreign policy approach that's been quite disastrous is this stubborn refusal to make any compromise as they deem it a sign of weakness,” he elaborated.
The US would likely have to “show some spirit of compromise and consensus” and “at least bend on some issues” if they want to reach any progress with China, Pauken argued, and if Washington refuses to do so, Beijing may simply end up refusing to “take the phone calls from the White House and from the secretary of state.”
Relations between the United States and China have been deteriorating since 2018 when then-US President Donald Trump initiated a tariff war against Beijing.
In the following years, the White House ramped up its military assistance to Taiwan and even sent then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the island with a visit in 2022 despite Beijing’s protests.
Meanwhile, US officials repeatedly raised concerns that China may allegedly use the tech produced by Chinese firms for espionage and branded the Chinese weather balloon that strayed into US airspace earlier this year as an attempt to spy on US facilities.