Antony Blinken to discuss Middle East, Russia-Ukraine war, during meetings with officials in China

According to an official statement issued by the US State Department, the issues of discussion will include the crisis in the Middle East, Russia’s war against Ukraine, cross-Strait issues, and the South China Sea.

"The Secretary will also discuss ongoing work to fulfil the commitments made by Presidents Biden and Xi at the Woodside Summit in November on resuming counternarcotics cooperation, military-to-military communication, artificial intelligence, and strengthening people-to-people ties, and will reiterate the importance of the United States and the PRC responsibly managing competition, even in areas where our two countries disagree," read a statement issued by the department.

Stating the objectives, a US official told the State Department website: "The Secretary has three primary objectives for his trip to China: first, making progress on key issues; second, clearly and directly communicating concerns on bilateral, regional, and global issues; and third, responsibly managing competition, again, so that it does not result in miscalculation or conflict.  We’ve grounded these objectives in the administration’s approach to the PRC, which you have heard many times, of course, and that’s namely our invest, align, and compete strategy.  We’ve made significant progress on each pillar of our strategy, and we believe that our doing so has strengthened our competitive position."

The official said: "We are in a different place than we were a year ago, when the bilateral relationship was at an historic low point."