Chinese Foreign Minister visiting this week

2023-10-24 04:00:00

The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken is preparing to receive his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at the end of the week in Washington, as senior American officials announced on Monday. This might pave the way for a visit by President Xi Jinping to the United States by the end of the year.

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Wang Yi’s visit to Washington, scheduled for Thursday to Saturday, comes following multiple contacts in recent months between Americans and Chinese who say they want ” manage responsibly » their tensions between major world powers, in an equally burning international context: the war in Ukraine, the Sino-Russian rapprochement in its wake and especially the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas will pose the threat of a more global conflagration .

Disagreements over Ukraine and the Middle East

China notably castigated the United States’ decision last week to block a UN resolution which called for a ” humanitarian break » between Hamas and Israel. In Washington, the meeting with Wang Yi will make it possible to call on Beijing to “ a more constructive approach » in these two conflicts and beyond, said a senior American official who requested anonymity.

For the United States, it is “ continue our efforts to maintain open communication channels » with Beijing and « manage our competition responsibly “, another senior American official told journalists when Wang Yi’s visit was announced.

No interview with Biden announced yet

Details of the visit have not yet been filtered, in particular the question of knowing what program Wang Yi will follow and whether he will be received by American President Joe Biden. During his visit to Beijing last June, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was received by the Chinese president.

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Wang Yi’s visit might thus prepare for that of Chinese President Xi Jinping to the United States, hypothetically on the sidelines of the next summit of Apec (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) countries in San Francisco in mid-November. Joe Biden has repeatedly reiterated his “ hope » of a next meeting before the end of the year, while their last face-to-face meeting dates back to the G20 summit in Bali, in November 2022.