US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in China on Wednesday where he is expected to issue a strong warning to Chinese leaders about the country's support for Russia's efforts to ramp up weapons production as the war in Ukraine continues.
The top US diplomat landed in Shanghai where he is expected to meet local officials and business leaders and will then travel to Beijing for meetings with senior Chinese officials. The trip – his second to the country in less than a year – is the latest in a string of high-level engagements that culminated in a summit meeting between President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in California in November following a period of immense tension.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited the country just weeks ago, and Biden and Xi spoke on the phone earlier this month.
"We are in a different place than we were a year ago when the bilateral relationship was at an historic low point," a senior State Department official said.
Although officials from both nations suggested Blinken's agenda will be focused on managing the relationship and communicating concerns, there are still sharp divides and the conversations are not expected to be easy.
China's support for Russia's industrial base, which the US says has allowed Moscow to continue its war against Ukraine, is a particular concern for the Biden administration.
"We see China sharing machine tools, semiconductors, other dual-use items that have helped Russia rebuild its defense industrial base that sanctions and export controls had done so much to degrade," Blinken said at a press conference in Italy last week.
China has not provided direct military support to Russia but the industrial and logistical help it is giving is having a significant impact, at a time Ukraine's military has been plagued by equipment and weapon shortages.
As Russia has begun to build back its defense capabilities, the US has sought to rally allies to pressure Beijing – via diplomatic means or, if that fails, punitive measures – to stop providing the support, and Blinken is expected to deliver a robust message on the issue during his visit.
"Russia is no longer kind of on its back foot," a second senior State Department official said. "They are surging. They have substantial assets, they reconstituted. They pose a threat not just to Ukraine but to the wider region."
Blinken will make the case that support for Russia is undermining not just Ukraine, but all of European security.
"China can't have it both ways," Blinken said. "It can't purport to want to have positive relations with Europe and at the same be fueling the biggest threat to Europe since the end of the Cold War."
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Monday that "we do think that there is more that China can do, and we have always made clear that we are willing and able to take our own actions if appropriate, and I think I'll leave it at that."
Despite the threat of US action, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official on Tuesday signaled that Beijing is unlikely to back down on its support for Moscow, warning the US against "smearing normal state-to-state relations" and calling for the US to lift sanctions on Chinese entities, during a state media briefing.
"The Ukrainian issue is not an issue between China and the United States, and the United States should not turn it into an issue between China and the United States," the official was quoted as saying.
Keep reading about Beijing's goals for the visit.
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