With visit to China, Blinken clears a diplomatic path, but it's unclear where it goes

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Monday. (Leah Millis/AP)

Secretary of State Antony Blinken's long-anticipated trip to Beijing shows that the administration is keen to reignite diplomacy and inject some stability to its dealings with China, but whether it was a success remains to be seen.

Blinken held talks with China's top two foreign policy officials and even had an audience with leader Xi Jinping during his two-day stop in Beijing that ended on Monday.