Antony Blinken to meet with Chinese Foreign Minister in Rome

The Secretary of State of USA, Antony Blinken, will meet on Sunday in Rome with the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, announced the State Department, in its second face-to-face session amid tensions between the two powers.

The meeting in Rome, where both diplomats attend the summit of the G20, is on Blinken’s public agenda for Sunday.

It will be the first meeting between Blinken and Wang since the stormy meeting in Alaska in March, where the Chinese delegation rebuked the American in front of television cameras.

Tensions are high between the world’s two largest economies on many fronts, including trade, human rights, Taiwan, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier this week, Washington ordered China Telecom Americas to discontinue its services within 60 days, ending nearly two decades of operations in the country and increasing tension in relations between the two countries.

The president of United States, Joe Biden, has pursued a hard-line trade policy against Beijing, in line with that of its predecessor Donald Trumpwhose bombastic approach caused tensions to escalate.

Tensions have also skyrocketed over Taiwan in recent months.

China claims that the autonomous island, an ally of the United States, is its own and promises that it will take it back one day, by force if necessary.

Earlier this month, Washington confirmed that a small number of US troops are on the island to help with training.

On Tuesday, Blinken called for Taiwan to be allowed greater involvement in UN agencies, though Beijing insisted it has no place on the world diplomatic stage.

Biden has also rebuked Beijing for its threats against Taiwan.

This month he said USA He was ready to defend the island from a Chinese invasion, although the White House was quick to dismiss those comments amid warnings from Beijing, continuing a strategy of ambiguity about whether it would intervene militarily if China attacked.

___________________________