Xi Jinping says he is very concerned about the direction humanity is taking, with so many ongoing conflicts, financial instability and continued shocks from extreme weather. A few days ago, the president of China wrote a very weighty letter addressed to the United States in which he asks that both powers work hand in hand to manage their differences and respond together to global challenges.
It has been a long time since the Chinese leader has used such a conciliatory tone to address his great rival, to whom he seems to offer a truce. Washington has also been making moves in that direction for some time, such as sending three North American Cabinet secretaries to Beijing in four months, adding more visits than in the previous two and a half years.
The tough competition will endure, as will the hail of sanctions from both sides, as will the battle to win the narrative and extend global influence.. But the thaw in relations between the first and second world economies is also evident.. This is very important at a time when the world has seen another war break out in the Middle East that threatens to expand beyond Israel and Palestine.
“If the United States and China can establish a correct way to get along, that will be crucial for the world,” Xi wrote, calling for more stable bilateral relations based on the principles of “mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.”
Xi's unexpected letter was read on Wednesday at a gala dinner in New York attended by prominent Chinese academic, sports and cultural figures.. There were the giant Yao Ming, former NBA star, Xue Lan, dean of Tsinghua University, one of the most important in the Asian country, and the award-winning novelist Hao Jingfang.. All members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) said they had crossed the pond to sow the ground to improve relations.
All this was happening while in Beijing, Xi had a surprise meeting with the governor of California, Gavin Newsom.. At the same time, China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, Minister of Foreign Affairs and State Councilor – one of the biggest names in the Asian power – took a plane to Washington.
It was the highest-level visit by a Chinese official since before the pandemic. A trip that has paved the way for a meeting between Xi and Joe Biden on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit to be held in November in San Francisco. US officials have confirmed Xi's attendance. It would be the first time that the Chinese president has set foot in the United States in almost seven years.
The person who met with Biden at the White House on Friday was Wang. They spent an hour chatting. “Biden emphasized that both the United States and China must manage competition in the relationship responsibly and maintain open lines of communication.. He also stressed that they must work together to address global challenges,” highlights the statement that Washington published after the meeting, along the same lines as the conciliatory letter that the Chinese president sent to New York.
A day earlier, Wang met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was in Beijing in June after postponing his visit for several months due to the diplomatic crisis over the Chinese spy balloons that flew over the US.. That front seems to have been left behind. Like the Chinese Government's tantrum over the 2022 trip to Taiwan of the then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.
That provocation ignited Chinese paranoia that Washington was reconsidering its one-China stance.. There has been no change in that regard, although Asian officials are not happy about Taipei rearming thanks to the increase in weapons sent to them by their American ally.
That visit by Pelosi, in addition to unleashing a wave of unprecedented invasion drills around the autonomous island that they consider a part of their territory, broke direct communication with the US Army on security matters.. A line that has been reopened, as will be staged by a regional security forum that starts on Sunday in the Chinese capital and will be attended by a delegation from the Pentagon.
“The United States and China need to maintain a deep and comprehensive dialogue to reduce misunderstandings and stabilize ties,” Wang said during his meeting with Blinken. The Chinese minister also met with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Friday. “We seek to expand cooperation that benefits both parties so that we can stabilize relations and return them to the path of healthy, stable and sustainable development,” the Chinese reiterated.
As expected, during the trip of the Beijing envoy the war in the Middle East was also on the table.. Blinken has insisted that he trusts Beijing to use its influence with Iran, one of its major partners in the region, to ensure that the conflict between Israel and Hamas does not spread.
Analysts have pointed out these days that if Hezbollah's army, an ally of Tehran, opens a second battle front in Israel, the chances of one of the two US aircraft carriers in the region attacking Iran will increase.. On Friday it was learned that the US had launched airstrikes against facilities used by groups linked to Iran in eastern Syria, in retaliation for blows against their military bases.
From China, where they have traditionally supported the Palestinian cause, but maintain very good commercial relations with Israel, they maintain an open position with continuous calls for a ceasefire and criticism of the devastating Israeli attack on Gaza, while at the same time they have publicly recognized the right of Israel to defend itself. As happened after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Xi Jinping's Government plays a balancing act with all the parties involved in the conflict, clashing with the majority support that the Israeli leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, has received from the Western powers, starting by the United States.
In the midst of all these global storms, Beijing and Washington show off soft power with these multiple rounds of diplomacy that were previously so missed.. But this approach is compatible with the play of forces that has been going on for some time, with the two titans flexing their military muscles.. While Wang met with Biden, the Chinese navy took a fleet led by the aircraft carrier Shandong for a walk through the Bashi Channel, a waterway between Taiwan and the Philippines, towards the western Pacific, where American warships abound.