Opinion | Wang Yi to visit Washington: Self-evidence of Xi-Biden summit in San Francisco

By Augustus K. Yeung

Last time in the G20 meeting hosted by PM Narendra Modi in India, President Joe Biden did not get to see Xi Jinping, his old friend, telling reporters that he was "disappointed". Biden is determined that he would not be disappointed again in the November summit in San Francisco.

What would he do to make his wish come true?

Under Joe Biden, high-level diplomatic activities between Washington and Beijing are moving fast forward, strongly signaling unusual things are going on – for the two heads of state to meet and exceed the world's expectation – for resolving the burning issue between Palestine and Israel – not just for mending US-Sino fences.

China's top diplomat will come to the United States tomorrow for a three-day visit, the latest move by Washington and Beijing to keep high-level talks open.

Wang Yi is scheduled to meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan over a range of issues, including the Israel-Hamas conflict, the Ukraine war and a recent vessel collision in the South China Sea, according to senior U.S. administration officials.

Wang's trip to Washington will come just about three weeks ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, where it's highly possible that President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet.

The officials did not confirm the leaders' meeting, nor did they say if Wang's visit would prepare for such a meeting. Instead, Wang's trip was described as "reciprocal" to Blinken's visit to Beijing in June.

Beijing has yet to confirm if President Xi will travel to San Francisco for the annual APEC summit.

Wang plans to make clear China's "position and principles on the relationship with the U.S. and our legitimate concerns," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a daily briefing yesterday.

China hopes to "jointly push the bilateral relationship back to the track of sound and stable development," Mao said, reflecting a more upbeat tone than the one heard from Beijing in recent weeks.

U.S.-China relations have deteriorated rapidly since 2018 over issues such as trade imbalance, human rights in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, the "militarization" of the South China Sea, the rising pressure on the self-governed island of Taiwan and the pandemic.

Last November, Biden and Xi met in Bali, Indonesia, on the sidelines of the Group of 20 meeting of leading rich and developing nations. The two sides agreed to resume talks, set up work groups on specific issues – and expand person-to-person exchanges.

The relationship had barely warmed up when Washington accused Beijing of flying a "spy" balloon over the U.S. territory in February, drawing stern protests from Beijing and plunging bilateral relations to another unexpected low.

Blinken traveled to Beijing in June, followed by Janet Yellen, Raimondi and John Kerry. And bilateral relations began to show signs of improvement.

Earlier this month, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer topped the visits, leading a bipartisan delegation of six senators to China, making it the first visit by U.S. lawmakers since 2019.

This week, surprisingly California Governor Gavin Newsom is in China to discuss climate change. How coincidental?!

Note: When Wang arrives in Washington, American officials will push China – to be more constructive in the Middle East, the senior administration officials said. Earlier this month, Blinken discussed with Wang – the importance of maintaining stability in the region, and discouraging other parties from entering the conflict, according to the State Department.

This "push" may bring bilateral closer cooperation.

The weekend collision between Philippine and Chinese vessels off Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea will be brought up in meetings with Wang.

While Wang's visit won't solve any differences, it's part of the U.S. diplomatic effort toward open communications to minimize risks, the American officials said.

There is more to be said about the U.S. president Joe Biden who has had an exceptional experience, thanks to his predecessor Donald J. Trump – who started the trade war with China, stirring up a flurry of anti-China sentiments.

Trump has also left Biden with a legacy of chaos, and a long list of false personal accusations –aimed at defaming and defeating the U.S. president, his archrival with the ulterior purpose of making a comeback to reclaim the White House.

No U.S. president has ever gone through the transition like the one Trump has had to offer the incumbent Joe Biden.

Ambushed at home by Trump, having got suck up in the Ukraine-Russia war, and now an unpleasant and untimely wake-up call from the unexpected Palestine-Israel conflict – which is threatening to get worse before the situation gets better, the poor U.S. president can only rely on his decade-long friendship – with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is in an admirable and enviable position.

Will Xi Jinping come to Joe Biden's rescue? Definitely!

The Chinese president and his Party have got it figured out long time ago that China's foreign policy is one which is all set-in-stone: China honors the U.S.-China relations, a cornerstone; China recognizes that the world is revolving around the United States, except that it must stop its unilateral hegemony; and that it must stop bully developing countries, and that it has to stop relying on its Western allies, treating them as junior partners or pawns – rather than full-fledged fellow global villagers – who deserve America's attention and respect of their opinions, however different.

If one objectively tracks China's global political and economic activities, one can reasonably understand that China is consistently attempting to promote food security, economic prosperity and peace to a lop-sided world, in which great wealth, natural and human resources are a familiar denial to the developing Global South.

The Xi-initiated Belt and Road is reaping handsome results. It is spoken well of by individuals, organizations in different countries, and world leader-visitors to Beijing – to attend the third forum.

Will a visionary Xi deny his friend Joe Biden's "wishful" thinking? No!

 

The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.

To contact the writer, please direct email: AugustusKYeung@ymail.com

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