US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet senior Chinese official Liu Jianchao in Washington on Friday, as per his official schedule released by the State Department.
Liu is the head of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) international department, which handles ties with foreign political parties. Blinken’s schedule did not give further details about their meeting.
Continued Engagements
The high profile meeting comes after US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in San Francisco in November.
Among other interactions between the two sides, Liu also met White House Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer on Wednesday. On Thursday, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo had a telephone meeting with China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao. Earlier this week, the two countries also resumed their long-frozen military talks.
A senior US administration official told reporters on Wednesday that the aim of the many engagements between the two superpowers was “to manage tensions and try to avoid unintended conflict.”
The talks come only a day ahead of Taiwan’s 13 January presidential and parliamentary elections. China claims the self-governing island to be part of its territory, and the US’ ties with the island often unsettle US-China ties.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet senior Chinese official Liu Jianchao in Washington on Friday, the State Department said, the talks coming just a day ahead of elections in Taiwan that will test efforts to ease US-China tensions https://t.co/pZqjuxBoxM
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 12, 2024
Election Interference
China has been accused of employing “all means” to influence the upcoming polls.
Intelligence gathered by the island nation in December showed that senior Chinese leaders met earlier to “coordinate” government efforts to sway Taiwan’s upcoming elections, especially with the Publicity Department and a psychological warfare unit under the People’s Liberation Army.
Beijing has called these accusations “dirty tricks.”
Zhang Zhijun, the head of China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, said in his New Year’s address that “The two elections coming up in the Taiwan region are important choices between the prospects for peace and war, prosperity and decline.”
In this light, the senior US administration official added that “Taiwan is a model for democracy not only in the region but also globally.” He stressed that Washington opposes “any outside interference or influence in Taiwan’s elections.”
He further stated that Washington “does not take sides in these elections” or “have a favoured or preferred candidate.” “ Regardless of whom is elected, our policy toward Taiwan will remain the same, and our strong unofficial relationship will also continue,” the official stressed.
Moreover, the official announced that the US would be sending an unofficial delegation to Taiwan following the election, which “is well within precedent.” “It is, of course, consistent with our One China policy, consistent with the status quo, and timed after the election to ensure that we are not endorsing one candidate or one party over the other,” he clarified.