US secretary of state’s trip seeks to clear the air but issues such as Taiwan and Ukraine leave limited room for compromise
Antony Blinken has arrived in Beijing on the highest-level trip by a US secretary of state since 2018, with his aides signalling he was seeking to build lines of communication rather than secure any practical breakthrough agreements.
The expectations, set deliberately low for the two-day talks, allow room for the world’s two largest economies to air their differences over the Taiwan strait, technology, human rights and the war in Ukraine. Washington believes the talks will be worthwhile if they simply reduce the risk of misunderstanding, and start to reopen atrophied channels of communication.
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