BEIJING — Secretary of State Antony Blinken he told NBC News on Monday that his trip to Beijing marked an “important beginning.” stabilization of US relations with China and that countries should transition from spy balloon an incident which postponed his earlier visit.
“This chapter should be closed,” Blinken said in an interview before leaving Beijing, where he spent two days meeting with senior Chinese officials, including the president. You are Jinping.
Halting the downward spiral in relations between the world’s two largest economies “is not the result of one visit, not as intense and in some ways productive as this one was,” Blinken said. “But it’s a good and I think an important start.”
US officials played down expectations for the trip, saying any breakthroughs were unlikely. Even after Blinken’s visit, the two countries have yet to restore several military-to-military communication channels that China cut last year in protest against the former speaker of the House. Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwana self-governing democracy that Beijing claims as its territory.
Blinken said it was essential that this communication be restored, referring to recent meetings in the US Taiwan Strait and South China Sea which China says were necessary to defend its national sovereignty, but which the US has called dangerous.
“That’s the quickest route to unintentional conflict,” said Blinken, who added that restoring channels “is not something we throw away.”
Blinken’s trip to China, the first by a US secretary of state since 2018, was postponed in February following the discovery of an alleged Chinese spy balloon over US territory. President Joe Biden he said last month that the agreement he and Xi had made to keep communications open had also been derailed by “this stupid balloon”.
Blinken stated the Biden administration, which ordered the balloon to be shot down military off the coast of South Carolina at the time took necessary action to protect US interests and made its concerns clear to Beijing, which says it was an unmanned civilian blimp that veered off course.” We said what we needed to say and clarify, what we needed to clarify in terms of making sure it doesn’t happen again, and until it does, this chapter should be closed,” Blinken said.
“But it’s something we’re very vigilant about and will continue to monitor,” he added.
The results of the FBI’s investigation into the balloon whose wreckage was found by US officials have not yet been released.
There were fears last week that Blinken’s trip could be delayed again at the last minute after US officials claimed that China had a spy station in Cuba, which both Chinese and Cuban officials denied.
Blinken said he has repeatedly raised the issue with his Chinese counterparts.
“Of course this is nothing new,” he said. “It’s something that’s been going on for a number of years and something we’ve been taking steps on for a number of years.”
Blinken dismissed criticism that the Biden administration downplayed the espionage allegations and delayed punitive economic measures against China with the goal of reviving US-China relations.
“We don’t pull any punches and I certainly didn’t pull any punches with our Chinese counterparts,” he said.
“I think if you look at the actions we’ve taken, it’s hard to prove that, and in fact, if you listen to our Chinese counterparts, they say the exact opposite and complain about a lot of the actions we’ve taken. because it is necessary to advance our national interest.”
Republicans in Congress expressed disapproval of Blinken’s trip, saying the White House needed to take a tougher stance toward Beijing. Blinken said it would be “absolutely irresponsible” not to engage with China.
“If we’re not engaging, it’s much more difficult to ensure that the competition we’re in doesn’t come into conflict,” he said.
Blinken’s trip to China could pave the way for a phone call or face-to-face meeting between Biden and Xi, who first met more than a decade ago when both were vice presidents. The two men have not spoken since a face-to-face meeting last November on the sidelines of a summit in Indonesia.
“Ultimately, there is no substitute for two leaders talking directly to each other,” Blinken said. “This is especially true in China given the power that Xi Jinping has.”
Janis Mackey Frayer reported from Beijing and Jennifer Jett from Hong Kong.