The ice wall between the two titans of the geopolitical board had to be broken. It was very dangerous for the dominant economic powers, which also have the largest armies, to continue like cat and dog as their war games almost touch each other at times. The rivalry, provocation and animosity will continue, but at least a regular line of communication between senior officials will be reopenedessential to avoid a conflict.
That was the main purpose of the trip to Beijing by the Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, although he will return home with a bittersweet taste in his mouth after failing to extract the commitment from Beijing to resume the mechanisms of military cooperation with the US. , broken since the visit to Taiwan in August last year by the then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi. A trip that unleashed the fury of the Chinese army, which launched unprecedented invasion drills.
“I have repeatedly raised the need for army-to-army communications. Instead, China has not agreed to go ahead with this,” said Blinken, who ended his busy schedule in the Chinese capital with a long-awaited handshake with President Xi Jinping.
The highlight of the first trip to the Asian giant by a US secretary in five years remained unknown until Monday afternoon (local time), when Xi finally received Blinken. This meeting was not on the official agenda. In Beijing, before offering Washington’s envoy a face-to-face with the boss of the second world power, they wanted to test the atmosphere in the long previous meetings that Blinken had held with senior Chinese officials.
After checking the conciliatory tone of the guest, as well as the restrained statements from the White House about the content of the meetings, it was time to close the visit with a strong final image – that of Xi and Blinken shaking hands – that symbolizes a small step forward to ease tensions. It also paves the way for a meeting between Xi and President Joe Biden in the coming months.