Antony Blinken will visit China on Feb. 5-6, 2023. The trip is a follow-up to President Joe Biden’s meeting with China’s paramount leader, Xi Jinping, in November.
The visit is a test of whether the Biden-Xi meeting has paved the way for more productive U.S.-China ties at a time when the relationship has become increasingly rancorous over issues ranging from Taiwan and trade policy to U.S. concerns about Beijing’s human rights record.
Blinken will likely push for a lifting of the suspensions on high-level bilateral contacts that Beijing imposed in August. He is also under pressure to seek the release of U.S. citizens wrongfully detained in China. The State Department last week referred to what it called “China’s ongoing and accelerating expansion of its nuclear arsenal”.
