<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at 4:30 p.m. Monday, the State Department said, as America's top diplomat wrapped up a two-day visit to Beijing aimed at easing soaring tensions.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A Blinken-Xi meeting had been expected, but neither side had confirmed it would happen until just an hour before the talks, which are seen as key to the success of the trip. A snub by the Chinese leader would have been a major setback to the effort restore and maintain communications at senior levels.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Blinken is the highest-level U.S. official to visit China since President Joe Biden took office, and the first secretary of state to make the trip in five years. His visit is expected to usher in a new round of visits by senior U.S. and Chinese officials, possibly including a meeting between Xi and Biden in the coming months.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The encounter with Xi comes on the second and second and final day of Blinken's critical meetings with senior Chinese officials. The two sides have thus far expressed willingness to talk but have showed little inclination to bend on hardened positions that have sent tensions soaring.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Blinken met earlier Monday with China's top diplomat Wang Yi for about three hours, according to a U.S. official.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Neither Blinken nor Wang made any comment to reporters as they greeted each other and sat for their discussion.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote in a statement that Blinken's visit "coincides with a critical juncture in China-U.S. relations, and it is necessary to make a choice between dialogue or confrontation, cooperation or conflict," and blamed the "U.S. side's erroneous perception of China, leading to incorrect policies towards China" for the current "low point" in relations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It said the U.S. had a responsibility to halt "the spiraling decline of China-U.S. relations to push it back to a healthy and stable track" and that Wang had "demanded that the U.S. stop hyping up the 'China threat theory', lift illegal unilateral sanctions against China, abandon suppression of China's technological development, and refrain from arbitrary interference in China's internal affairs."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Despite Blinken's presence in China, he and other U.S. officials had played down the prospects for any significant breakthroughs on the most vexing issues facing the planet's two largest economies.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Instead, these officials have emphasized the importance of the two countries establishing and maintaining better lines of communication.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The State Department said Blinken "underscored the importance of responsibly managing the competition between the United States and the PRC through open channels of communication to ensure competition does not veer into conflict."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the first round of talks on Sunday, Blinken met for nearly six hours with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang after which both countries said they had agreed to continue high-level discussions. However, there was no sign that any of the most fractious issues between them were closer to resolution.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The two sides both said Qin had accepted an invitation from Blinken to visit Washington but Beijing made clear that "the China-U.S. relationship is at the lowest point since its establishment." That sentiment is widely shared by U.S. officials.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Blinken is the highest-level American official to visit China since President Joe Biden took office and his two-day trip comes after his initial plans to travel to China were postponed in February after the shootdown of a Chinese surveillance balloon over the U.S.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Biden and Xi had made commitments to improve communications "precisely so that we can make sure we are communicating as clearly as possible to avoid possible misunderstandings and miscommunications," Blinken said before leaving for Beijing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">His talks could pave the way for a meeting in the coming months between Biden and Xi. Biden said Saturday that he hoped to be able to meet with Xi in the coming months to take up the plethora of differences that divide them.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That long list incudes disagreements ranging from trade to Taiwan, human rights conditions in China and Hong Kong to Chinese military assertiveness in the South China Sea and Russia's war in Ukraine.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In his meetings on Sunday, Blinken also pressed the Chinese to release detained American citizens and to take steps to curb the production and export of fentanyl precursors that are fueling the opioid crisis in the United States.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Xi offered a hint of a possible willingness to reduce tensions Friday, saying in a meeting with Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates that the United States and China can cooperate to "benefit our two countries."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Since the cancellation of Blinken's trip in February, there have been some high-level engagements. CIA chief William Burns traveled to China in May, while China's commerce minister traveled to the U.S. And Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Wang Yi in Vienna in May.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But those have been punctuated by bursts of angry rhetoric from both sides over the Taiwan Strait, their broader intentions in the Indo-Pacific, China's refusal to condemn Russia for its war against Ukraine, and U.S. allegations from Washington that Beijing is attempting to boost its worldwide surveillance capabilities, including in Cuba.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And, earlier this month, China's defense minister rebuffed a request from U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for a meeting on the sidelines of a security symposium in Singapore, a sign of continuing discontent.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Meanwhile, the national security advisers of the United States, Japan and the Philippines held their first joint talks last week and agreed to strengthen their defense cooperation, in part to counter China's growing influence and ambitions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This coincides with the Biden administration inking an agreement with Australia and Britain to provide the first with nuclear-powered submarines, with China moving rapidly to expand its diplomatic presence, especially in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific island nations, where it has opened or has plans to open at least five new embassies over the next year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The agreement is part of an 18-month-old nuclear partnership given the acronym AUKUS — for Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. AP/UNB</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>