What’s new: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will discuss competition and cooperation between China and the U.S. including management of nuclear weapon stockpiles and climate change during his trip to Beijing early next month, according to a department spokesman.
Following the summit between President Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden in Bali last year, Blinken will seek to “discuss those areas that have the potential to be conflictual, where we hope to establish those guardrails to see to it that competition doesn’t veer into conflict,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said during a press conference Wednesday.
“But to also discuss those areas where we see the potential for further cooperation with the PRC,” he said.
Blinken will also discuss areas of cooperation in “transnational challenges” including climate change, Covid, drugs and fentanyl, said Price.
“Essentially threats to people around the world, threats that know no borders,” he said.
What’s more: The spokesman added that the U.S. secretary of state also seeks to discuss “strategic stability broadly” with his Chinese counterpart Foreign Minister Qin Gang during the Beijing trip reportedly scheduled to take place from Feb. 5-6.
“We believe responsible nuclear powers need to act responsibly; they need to engage in discussions of strategic stability to see to it that the world’s most powerful weapons are managed appropriately and that our respective stockpiles are handled appropriately,” Price said.
The background: Beijing has repeatedly rejected joining nuclear disarmament talks with the U.S. and Russia, stating that as those two countries have the world’s largest stockpiles of the weapons they should first reduce the levels of their arsenals.
In mid-January, the Chinese foreign ministry also denounced a U.S.-Japan statement in which the two countries expressed concerns regarding China’s reported expansion of its nuclear arsenal, saying the statement attempted to justify the two countries’ own military buildup.
Contact reporter Lu Zhenhua (zhenhualu@caixin.com)
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