US top diplomat Blinken visits China amid escalated tensions over Taiwan
Al Jazeera
The trip comes after US Senate’s approval of a bill that will provide billions of dollars in assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in China for a three-day trip, following Senate approval of a foreign aid package that will provide billions of dollars in assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
Blinken, who landed in Shanghai on Wednesday, is expected to meet business leaders in the city before heading to Beijing for talks on Friday with his counterpart, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and a likely meeting with President Xi Jinping.
Beijing and Washington have said the trip is about strengthening dialogue and stabilising their rocky bilateral relationship.
The trip comes just hours after the US Senate voted for a large foreign aid package and shortly before President Joe Biden is expected to sign it into law.
The bill sets aside eight billion dollars to counter Chinese threats in Taiwan and the broader Asia Pacific and gives China’s ByteDance nine months to sell TikTok with a possible three-month extension if a sale is in progress.
