Antony Blinken faces a challenging tour to China. Will it be beneficial?

Antony Blinken faces a challenging tour to China. Will it be beneficial?

One of the many American football teams that have emerged in China in recent years is the Beijing Cyclones.

As he tosses the ball across the field, quarterback Mu Yang exclaims, "Three, two, one - hut!"

Henry Mu, a teammate from the Beijing Cyclones, dives for the ball as he races to the corner, his studs thudding off the AstroTurf.

Henry catches his breath, "I was so startled to find American football here." "It's very tough, mentally as well as physically, you must defeat your fear."

Here, mixed-gender players participate in a team sport more associated with Beijing than Baltimore.

This is more than just a game to many Americans; it's a way for them to demonstrate their sense of national identity. There are millions of spectators and just a few thousand players in China, which is new for this Chinese club.

In an attempt to defuse their volatile relationship, Beijing is hoping for precisely the type of "people to people" contacts and cultural ties with the US.

China has been emphasizing its similarities with the US rather than its contrasts ever since President Xi Jinping's visit to San Francisco in November of last year.

In an attempt to boost its flagging economy, Beijing also seems to have softened its diplomatic stance in recent months.

The US, for its part, has indicated collaboration with China by sending envoys there more often. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Shanghai for his second trip to China in less than a year, after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's two previous trips.

A senior State Department official said in the run-up to Mr. Blinken's trip that the US refers to it as "responsibly managing competition" to reduce the likelihood of "miscalculation or conflict".

That does not imply that the discussions will be simple. Without a question, ties between the US and China have improved recently, but they are still fraught with mistrust and conflict.

In a route chart that served as a reminder of flashpoints, Mr. Blinken's jet, which was carrying officials and media, including the BBC, wove its way from Anchorage across the Pacific and Russia on Wednesday, going to the Chinese coastline north of Taiwan and the South China Sea.

A alleged Chinese surveillance balloon was seen floating in the same airspace over Alaska's frozen lakes at the beginning of last year, which led to a major global crisis and a low point in US-China relations.

The US Senate approved a measure package providing an additional $8 billion in military assistance to Taiwan, which President Biden has said the US will protect in the event of a Chinese invasion, only hours before Mr. Blinken set foot on the Shanghai airstrip. China claims the self-governing island, which has the US as one of its strongest allies.

In addition, the Senate voted to prohibit the widely used social networking app TikTok if its Chinese parent firm, ByteDance, did not sell it off within nine months of receiving the package.

Ms. Yellen had chastised China on her tour earlier this month for its overcapacity problems, which have led to a glut of low-cost Chinese products on the US market.

All these developments have infuriated China. It views them as a component of Washington's efforts to economically and geopolitically surround it. US officials respond that Beijing has to behave differently if it wants the possibility of sanctions and tariffs being removed or US bilateral agreements with its regional rivals to be relaxed.

Mr. Blinken will alert Wang Yi, China's foreign minister, on Thursday to the need for China to reduce its supplies of microchips and machine tools to Russia. Moscow allegedly employs them as weaponry in its conflict with Ukraine. Beijing has referred to it as a "baseless allegation," seeing it as an example of American hypocrisy coming just days after Washington approved billions of dollars' worth of more deadly aid for Kyiv.

Beijing has cautions of its own for Washington. It released a lengthy, strongly written statement outlining its expectations for the negotiations before Mr. Blinken arrived.

As ties begin to stabilize, "the United States keeps advancing the strategy of containing China, keeps adopting incorrect words and actions that meddle in China's domestic affairs, damage China's reputation, and undermine China's interests," It said, "China has taken strong countermeasures and resolutely opposes such moves."

Chinese scholars and state media have likewise reiterated this idea. Blinken seems to be here to give China a deadline. We won't back down from him, and we won't compromise on our fundamental beliefs," China Foreign Affairs University professor Li Haidong said to the Global Times.

A "win-win situation" might be reached in the relationship, according to Wang Yong of Peking University's School of International Relations. However, she said that Washington has to demonstrate more "goodwill" toward China since the US has the "wrong perception" of it.

Taiwan would be among Beijing's top concerns heading into the discussions this week, according to analyst Alfred Wu of Singapore.

Less than a month before William Lai, Taiwan's pro-sovereignty president who Beijing despises, takes office, Mr. Blinken is in China, raising fears that tensions in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait may flare up.

China would want to draw attention to the red lines. In order to prevent tensions from rising further, particularly in the run-up to the inauguration on May 20, the two parties would want to establish the necessary foundations, according to Mr. Wu, an associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

After that date, their already precarious relationship will face even more challenges as the US prepares for another presidential election in which both candidates are running on platforms of toughness against China.

Returning to the Beijing Cyclones football pitch, thoughts turn to both politics and sports.

Quarterback Mu Yang once called a Super Bowl game in Los Angeles for Chinese fans, calling it a "huge honor." He expressed optimism for further interactions between China and the US.

"The largest game in the world is this one. It would be beneficial for us if famous players from the National Football League could come and teach us how to play football at the highest level."

Henry Mu, on the other hand, is grateful for the opportunity to "culturally communicate through this game."

"Americans are welcome to visit us, and Chinese people are welcome to play American sports here. Getting to know someone and becoming friends is wonderful.

"We need peace, not war."