On April 26th, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken concluded his second visit to China during his tenure. The United States and China made almost no progress on issues such as Chinese assistance to Russia, Taiwan, and the South China Sea. Analysts say Blinken’s visit highlighted a series of disagreements in U.S.-China relations. The American side followed the proper procedures to give China a chance. If China continues to take a hardline stance, it will face severe international sanctions. Blinken’s visit to China is seen as a final warning to the Chinese government.
Blinken’s last day in Beijing on April 26th included multiple meetings with top Chinese officials, including discussions with Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Blinken urged China to reduce its support for the Russian defense industry and warned that if China ignores U.S. concerns, the U.S. will be prepared to take action.
During a press conference before leaving China, Blinken expressed American concerns to the Chinese side, including the impact of overcapacity on global and U.S. markets, as well as disputes in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait. He emphasized the U.S.’s particular concerns over China supplying military and dual-use goods like machine tools, microelectronics, and nitrocellulose to Russia, supporting Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. These products are crucial for Russia’s defense industry, which is rapidly producing rockets, drones, tanks, and other weapons. Blinken also urged China to use its influence to prevent Iran and its proxies from escalating conflicts in the Middle East and to engage in dialogue on North Korea.
Analysis suggests that no progress was made on issues like China’s low-cost exports, the South China Sea, and the Taiwan Strait. Regarding whether the U.S. plans to implement financial sanctions on China for supporting Russia, Blinken did not provide a clear response.
Blinken arrived in Shanghai on April 24th to begin his three-day visit to China amid a wolf warrior atmosphere in the country. On Chinese social media platforms, Blinken’s visit received numerous sarcastic remarks. Chinese netizens focused on the fact that the Chinese side did not roll out the red carpet for him.
When Blinken arrived in Shanghai, he was welcomed by Kong Fu’an, director of the Shanghai Foreign Affairs Office representing the Chinese side, and Nicholas Burns, the U.S. Ambassador to China, at the airport. Last June, during Blinken’s previous visit to China, Yang Tao, director of the North American and Oceania Affairs Department of the Foreign Ministry, greeted him. This change in reception officials further stirred public attention, suggesting a deliberate downgrading of China’s reception towards Blinken.
In an English post on his X account, Hu Xijin, former editor-in-chief of the Global Times, wrote, “Blinken has arrived in Shanghai; many people have noticed that there was no red carpet for him at the airport; his visit to China should be seen as a ‘pleading trip,’ despite the U.S. laying down some tough public opinion groundwork beforehand.”
User Lord Bebo also commented, “No red carpet, no band, the treatment Blinken received makes it seem like he is just an ordinary person.”
The Observer website published a commentary by Sun Taiyi, associate professor at Christopher Newport University in the U.S., calling Blinken’s visit to China “a formality, making demands, conveying change, and expecting progress.”
In an editorial, the Global Times claimed that Blinken’s trip mainly aimed to engage with China on regional hotspots like Ukraine and the Israel-Palestine conflict, hoping for China’s help with fentanyl issues. Therefore, the U.S. “should lower its stance, show full respect to China, and demonstrate its sincerity.”
Blinken’s visit to China covered various topics, with many believing that a series of differences between the U.S. and China would be further highlighted during this trip.
While Blinken began his visit to China, on April 24th, U.S. President Biden signed a massive foreign aid bill just passed by Congress. Under the bill, the U.S. will provide a total of $95 billion in military aid to partner countries like Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. Of this, about $60 billion and $26 billion will respectively go to Ukraine and Israel, with $8 billion allocated for Taiwan and the broader Indo-Pacific region to counter China.
Additionally, the bill requires Chinese companies ByteDance and the TikTok short video platform to “split up.” If ByteDance does not sell TikTok’s U.S. business within nine months, the platform could face removal from the U.S.
The video-sharing app has hundreds of millions of users globally but is facing increasing questions about user data security and its relationship with the Chinese government. Congress and the U.S. government are concerned that China might force ByteDance to hand over the data of 170 million U.S. TikTok users.
On Middle East issues, U.S. officials, including Blinken, have repeatedly urged China to use its influence with Iran to prevent the Israel-Gaza conflict from escalating into a broader regional conflict. However, tensions have continued to escalate since the outbreak of the Gaza war. In mid-April, China described Iran’s missile and drone attacks on Israel as “exercising self-defense.” China has been courting Muslim countries and has blamed the U.S. for turmoil in the Middle East. Since Hamas launched terrorist attacks on Israel on October 17 last year, China has not condemned Hamas.
Before arriving in Shanghai, The Wall Street Journal cited sources who said that the U.S. was drafting sanctions measures as diplomatic leverage for Secretary of State Blinken in negotiations with China. These sanctions could sever some Chinese banks’ connections to the global financial system. U.S. officials hope that by warning about the risks of cutting off dollar channels for Chinese banks and the impact on China-Europe trade, they can persuade the Chinese government to make changes.
Since Russia’s aggression against Ukraine in February 2022, Western countries have significantly escalated financial sanctions against Russia, including kicking certain Russian banks out of the SWIFT system. Compared to Russia’s financial industry, China’s financial industry is more reliant on the U.S. dollar. Despite China’s efforts to promote “de-dollarization” in foreign trade, the results have not been significant. Financial sanctions are seen as a “big killer” that the U.S. can use against China, with the severity expected to far exceed constraints on chip technology.
Recently, the YouTuber “Financial Insight” stated in his program that Blinken’s visit to China could be the last chance the U.S. gives to China. He believes that while Blinken may not have high expectations for this visit, the U.S. is following proper procedures and giving China a chance, with whether China appreciates it being a different matter. If China continues to align with Russia in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, persistently acts aggressively in the Taiwan and South China Sea issues, and continues to use wolf warrior-style nationalism to anesthetize itself without reflecting, the consequences could be dire. When the U.S. sanctions are imposed in the future, China will face very severe international sanctions.
On April 27th, Lai Jianping, a former lawyer in Beijing and chairman of the Canadian Alliance, told a reporter from The Epoch Times that China’s propaganda machinery deliberately portrays a negative narrative about the United States. Its goal is to incite so-called nationalism and populism to save itself from the deep and comprehensive governance crisis it is currently facing. At the same time, China is trying to force the U.S. to make concessions in a rogue manner.
Lai believes that Blinken’s visit to China serves as an ultimatum, with the U.S. explicitly asking China to maintain rational restraint on key international issues such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the South China Sea, and the Taiwan Strait. If China cannot abide by these demands, the U.S. and other Western countries will continue to implement more impactful measures against China.
Cultural scholar Wu Zuolai, currently based in the U.S., also told The Epoch Times that China is facing a historic choice. He said the U.S. has taken a firm stance, putting all the issues on the table for China to choose. For example, if China chooses to continue supporting Russia, the U.S. will also take corresponding measures to counter China’s actions.
“The United States is raising these issues to make China make choices,” said Wu. Nevertheless, Western countries’ tolerance towards China is not unlimited. They will not allow China to continue acting recklessly. Instead, they will gradually escalate measures, like boiling a frog in water, increasing the temperature slowly, making it increasingly difficult for China to bear, which is an inevitable trend.