Biden Seeks Dialogue With China Despite Strained Relations

The White House hopes to restore regular dialogue with Beijing, months after a Chinese spy balloon flew over U.S. airspace, causing Secretary of State Antony Blinken to call off his scheduled trip to China in early February and further straining relations between the two countries.

Washington plans to start cabinet-level engagement first, expecting it to result in the resumption of talks between President Joe Biden and his counterpart, Xi Jinping.

For almost two months, Washington and Beijing have been discussing a potential trip to China by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to resume economic dialogue. Still, no decision has been made so far.

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby confirmed that the administration is still in talks with China about a potential trip for both secretaries to discuss trade and economic issues.

“The president views our relationship with China as a strategic competition. He also believes that the United States is in a great position to succeed in that competition,” Kirby told The Epoch Times. “We’re not looking for conflict with China, and we want to keep the lines of communication open.”

In a recent interview, Blinken also expressed a desire to visit China soon.

“I think it’s important … that we re-establish regular lines of communication at all levels and across our government,” he told The Washington Post on May 3.

He stated that the administration is keen on ensuring that competition between the two countries “doesn’t veer into conflict.”

The meeting between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in California in early April, followed by China’s military drills around Taiwan, has further deteriorated U.S.-China relations.

On April 17, the Justice Department charged two individuals for operating a secret police station in the Chinatown district of Manhattan on behalf of the Chinese regime, which infuriated Washington. The White House condemned Beijing for its transnational repression and malign influence.

“That sort of behavior is unacceptable,” Kirby said.

Despite the growing tension between the two countries on numerous fronts, Biden is reportedly pursuing another summit with Xi, but Beijing has been giving him the cold shoulder. Both leaders last met on Nov. 14 in Bali, Indonesia, on the sidelines of the G-20 summit.

“At this point, Xi won’t even accept a phone call from the American president,” Josh Rogin, a Washington Post columnist, said in a recent article.

He argued that Biden’s pursuit of economic diplomacy is risky and will lead to nowhere.

“Seeking such dialogue makes political sense, but it risks lifting U.S. pressure on China without achieving real gains in return.”

National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington on May 4, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times) When asked why the Biden administration is still pursuing a meeting with China in light of all the frustration in Washington, Kirby stated that it is essential to address issues through dialogue.

“Look, the U.S.-China relationship is the most consequential bilateral relationship in the world,” he said, adding that much of that consequential nature stems from economic and trade issues rather than security concerns.

“That’s why it’s important to get Secretary Blinken back to Beijing. That’s why it’s important to get Secretaries Yellen and Raimondo also over there to talk about these issues. It is precisely because we do not agree on everything with the Chinese that we want to keep talking to them.”

Last month, Commerce Department officials traveled to Beijing and Shanghai to lay the groundwork for a possible trip by Secretary Raimondo.

The Commerce Department did not respond to a request for comment regarding the status of Raimondo’s trip.

In April, Yellen also said she hoped to travel to Beijing “at the appropriate time.”

“My hope is to engage in an important and substantive dialogue on economic issues with my new Chinese government counterpart,” she said during a speech on the U.S.-China economic relationship at Johns Hopkins University.

The Treasury Department didn’t respond to a request for comment about a possible trip.

In a recent speech, U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns highlighted the challenges he faced in thawing relations with Beijing.

“What we really need is a more broad-based engagement at the Cabinet level, and the United States is ready for that,” Burns said on May 2 at a Stimson Center event.

“So we hope that the government here will be ready as well. And it’s hard for me to predict at this point when this kind of re-engagement will reoccur, but we have never supported an icing of this relationship.”

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