Blinken heading to China for high-stakes meeting amid tensions with Beijing 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Beijing this week to meet with Chinese officials to discuss the importance of maintaining open lines of communication that the Biden administration says are necessary to prevent a crisis from spiraling into conflict. 

Blinken spoke with China’s foreign minister, Qin Gang, early Wednesday ahead of the top U.S. diplomat’s trip, which will take place June 18 and 19. The visit was rescheduled after being postponed in February in the wake of the discovery of a Chinese spy balloon flying over the U.S. that was later shot down.

During the call, Blinken and Qin discussed “the importance of maintaining open lines of communication” to prevent crises in the U.S. and China relationship from spilling into conflict, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement. 

The two top diplomats also “addressed a range of bilateral and global issues, and made clear the U.S. would continue to use diplomatic engagements to raise areas of concern as well as areas of potential cooperation,” Miller added. 

The Biden administration has pushed to establish communication channels with Beijing as relations between the two global powers are at their lowest point. Ties have been strained amid intense competition for global influence and upended by a series of crises, including near-miss military confrontations in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait, the spy balloon incident and revelations last week that China has been spying on the U.S. from Cuba for years. 

The Chinese foreign ministry reportedly said in a statement that Qin, in his phone call with Blinken, noted Beijing and Washington “have encountered new difficulties and challenges” since the start of the year, and the two sides share the responsibility to work together to manage differences, promote exchanges and cooperation and stabilize relations. 

While Qin also told the secretary the U.S. should respect “China’s core concerns” in relation to the Biden administration’s support for self-governed Taiwan interfering in Beijing’s domestic issues, the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s statements seem to express an opening for communication. 

After Beijing, Blinken will travel to London to attend the Ukraine Recovery Conference to help “mobilize international support from the public and private sector to help Ukraine recover from Russia’s brutal and ongoing attacks,” the State Department said.