Blinken to meet Xi on final day of talks in Beijing

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken would meet Chinese President Xi Jinping before he departs Beijing on Monday after a two-day visit, Chinese state media reports.

This is the first trip by a U.S. secretary of state to China since 2018.

The U.S Secretary of State had met earlier in the day with China’s top foreign policy official, Wang Yi.

The last-minute announcement that Xi would talk to Blinken was seen as a special gesture, and a sign that Beijing aimed to cool the soaring tensions between the rival powers.

Meanwhile, China’s top foreign policy official Wang Yi has accused the U.S. of having a wrong perception about China that led to a wrong policy towards the country.

Wang said Blinken’s trip to Beijing came at a critical juncture in Sino-U.S. relations and it was necessary to make a choice between dialogue or confrontation, cooperation or conflict.

Wang said the U.S. must stop hyping the theory of a threat from China and must also lift illegal unilateral sanctions against China.

He also called for end to the “suppression of technological development’’ of its country.
(dpa/NAN)