Ahead of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s meeting with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, had a stark warning.
There was a risk, he said, that US-China relations could “return to a downward spiral.”
US cooperation with China had increased in some areas, he added, but “on the other hand, negative factors in Sino-US relations are still rising and accumulating”, according to Chinese state media.
China’s relationship with the US has been under serious strain in recent years. From Ukraine to the Middle East, TikTok to trade, the superpowers remain at loggerheads on various issues.
A US military chief in March warned that China is engaging in the biggest military build-up since World War II and could be preparing an attack on Taiwan that risks direct military confrontation with the US.
The independent island is the main flash point between Washington and Beijing, with the US signaling that it would help defend it from …