US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited China for whirlwind discussions with the People's Republic political grandees in Shanghai and Beijing with the hope of "stabilising the relationship" between both countries. So into the Beijing/Washington political turbulence, Mr Blinken flew to smooth the Sino-American political rivalry, especially over China's military assertiveness towards the South China Sea, Taiwan, the Ukraine war, and naturally two-way trade.
"It was clear coming in that the relationship was at a point of instability," Mr Blinken told a press conference. "And both sides recognised the need to work to stabilise it."
Among the key concerns "shared by a growing number of countries" remains China's "provocative actions to the Taiwan Strait, as well as in the South and East China Seas." Mr Bliken stated. "I discussed the PRC's dangerous actions in the South China Sea, including against routine Philippine maintenance operations… Freedom of navigation and commerce in these waterways is not only critical to the Philippines, but to the US and to every other nation in the Indo-Pacific and indeed around the world."
Significantly, the secretary reaffirmed the US's "one China" policy and stressed the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait." He was referring to harassing flights of Chinese military aircraft which circle the self-ruled democratic island of Taiwan, as well as Beijing's baseless territorial claims to islands, shoals and waters in the South China Sea.
On the human rights front, Mr Blinken "raised concerns about the erosion of Hong Kong's autonomy and democratic institution" as well as "ongoing human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Tibet." Was it virtue signalling that the secretary and entourage visited a Tibetan restaurant while in the Chinese capital?
Commercial ties between the US/PRC are huge but still massively favour China through longstanding trade deficits with the US While American exports to China have importantly increased, the trade imbalance last year still reached a whopping $279 billion (10 trillion baht).
A point Mr Blinken made to sceptical Chinese trade officials was to clarify the US stance towards China, namely that the US is not seeking to "contain" China economically. He added, "We are for de-risking and diversifying. That means investing in our own capacities and in secure, resilient supply chains."
Turning to the war in Ukraine, Mr Blinken warned his Chinese counterparts over "our serious concern about the PRC providing components that are powering Russia's brutal war of aggression against Ukraine. China is the top supplier of machine tools, microelectronics, nitrocellulose, which is critical to making munitions and rocket propellants, and other dual-use items".
Later discussions with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi were described as "candid, substantive and constructive", in other words, not exactly warm and friendly. Mr Wang told Mr Blinken that the United States should respect China's "red lines", namely the PRC's territorial claim over democratic Taiwan as well as "introducing measures to contain China".
Chinese communist leader Xi Jinping, using the grandiose setting of Beijing's Great Hall of the People, acted as a latter-day Emperor in greeting Blinken, telling his American visitor that China and the US should be partners, not rivals, with both countries seeking "mutual success". Mr Xi warned against "vicious competition" between Beijing and Washington over political flashpoints such as Taiwan and the South China Sea.
One area of cooperation remains education, but the balance tilts largely towards Chinese students coming to America. Mr Blinken asserted, "While there are more than 290,000 Chinese students in the United States, there are fewer than 900 Americans studying here in China, and that's a significant drop from a decade ago when we had about 15,000 Americans studying here." Naturally, the Covid-19 pandemic emanating from the Chinese city of Wuhan closed the country to foreign visitors and students.
But China has indeed focused on American education; setting up the dubious Confucius Institutes on many campuses and emerging as a major donor to US universities. According to a survey by the Wall Street Journal, China made $2.3 billion in contracts and grants to over 200 American Colleges between 2012 and 2024.
The rivalry between China and the United States is rooted in profoundly different political systems, not to mention serious trade imbalances and enduring strategic competition in East Asia and the developing world. It's all very complicated.