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Statements from Washington and Beijing on meetings between Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and Chinese officials including Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu were positive, describing the talks as candid and productive. But critics have questioned U.S. overtures to China, arguing that past decades of engagement have failed to change Beijing's behaviour. "We're working hard to manage the relationship as best as we possibly can," said Kritenbrink, when asked by reporters in Beijing on Tuesday about the current state of bilateral ties. Asked if Blinken would visit China soon, Kritenbrink said: "We'll see, I have nothing to announce." Reporting by Ryan Woo and Ella Cao; Editing by Kim Coghill and Michael PerryOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Daniel Kritenbrink, Ma Zhaoxu, Kritenbrink, Lloyd Austin, Joe Biden's, Antony Blinken, Washington, Blinken, Biden, Xi Jinping, Ryan Woo, Ella Cao, Kim Coghill, Michael Perry Organizations: U.S, East Asian, Pacific Affairs, Foreign, U.S ., . Defense, U.S . State Department, ., Global Times, Economic Cooperation, APEC, Thomson Locations: BEIJING, China, Beijing, Washington, U.S, Chinese, Taiwan, South China, United States, Asia, San Francisco

☆ Chinese state media dismiss U.S. diplomat's Beijing visit
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BEIJING, June 5 (Reuters) - A Chinese state-backed newspaper criticised the visit of a senior U.S. State Department official to China, saying his visit was motivated more by Washington's own goal to portray itself as the side seeking communication and not Beijing. Sino-U.S. relations have sunk to new lows since U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken scrapped a planned trip to China in February after an alleged Chinese spy balloon flew through U.S. airspace. Some experts have great doubts as to whether the U.S. side can inject some positive energy into bilateral relations ahead of the next U.S. presidential elections, the Global Times said. "The U.S. has been seeking dialogue while continuing to be provocative," it reported, quoting an expert at a Chinese state think tank. "We haven't seen any positive statements from the U.S. concerning the core interests or bilateral relations."

Persons: Washington's, Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink, Antony Blinken, Laura Rosenberger, Lloyd Austin, Li Shangfu, Ryan Woo, Ben Blanchard, Michael Perry, Stephen Coates Organizations: U.S . State Department, United, Global Times, State, East Asian, Pacific Affairs, State Department, American Institute, Washington, Central News Agency, . Defense, China's, Austin, Thomson Locations: BEIJING, U.S, China, Beijing, United States, Taiwan, South China, Taipei, Singapore, Russia

☆ Senior U.S. State Department official to visit China next week amid tense ties
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, June 3 (Reuters) - A senior U.S. State Department official will travel to China next week, the department said on Saturday, as Washington seeks to boost communication with Beijing at a time of tense relations between the two countries. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink will discuss "key issues in the bilateral relationship" during his visit to China, the State Department said in a statement. He will be joined by White House National Security Council Senior Director for China and Taiwan Affairs Sarah Beran. During his travels from Sunday to June 10, Kritenbrink will also visit New Zealand to participate in the U.S.-New Zealand Strategic Dialogue, the department said. Kritenbrink’s trip follows a visit last month to China by CIA Director William Burns.

Persons: Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink, Sarah Beran, Kritenbrink, William Burns, Burns, Lloyd Austin, Austin, Antony Blinken, Janet Yellen, Gina Raimondo, Eric Beech, Cynthia Osterman Organizations: U.S . State Department, U.S, State, East Asian, Pacific Affairs, State Department, White House National Security, CIA, . Defense, Blinken, Thomson Locations: China, Washington, Beijing, Taiwan, South China, New Zealand, U.S, Zealand

☆ US opens embassy in Tonga in new pushback against China in Pacific
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, May 9 (Reuters) - The United States has opened a new embassy in Tonga, the State Department said on Tuesday, part of efforts to step up the U.S. diplomatic presence in the Pacific region to counter China. The United States "officially opened the U.S. Embassy in Nuku'alofa on May 9, 2023," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement. Miller said the embassy would allow Washington to deploy additional diplomatic personnel and resources, including the potential appointment of a resident ambassador to Tonga, with which the United States has had diplomatic relations since 1972. Despite the diplomatic push, the Solomon Islands announced in March it had awarded a multi-million-dollar contract to a Chinese state company to upgrade an international port in Honiara. The United States and regional allies Australia and New Zealand have had concerns that China has ambitions to build a naval base in the region since the Solomon Islands struck a security pact with Beijing last year.

☆ US stands with Philippines against Chinese 'intimidation' in S. China Sea - official
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Karen Lema | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 3 (Reuters) - The United States stands with treaty ally the Philippines in the face of harassment by China's coast guard in the South China Sea and remains deeply concerned about "intimidation" by Beijing, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday. The Philippines on Friday accused China's coast guard of "dangerous manoeuvres" and "aggressive tactics" in the South China Sea, in another maritime confrontation between the two countries. China said the Philippines vessels made "deliberate provocative moves". Kritenbrink also said the United States and its partners recognised the importance of maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait. Under Rodrigo Duterte, Marcos' anti-U.S. predecessor, relations soured as he sought to court China while openly rebuking Washington.

"This is not a good moment for American diplomacy," said William Kirby, a professor of Chinese studies at Harvard University. A source familiar with that conversation called it the most antagonistic U.S.-China engagement since contentious talks in Alaska early in the Biden administration. Name me one," Biden said in his speech, evidently referring to a host of domestic and foreign policy challenges facing China. However, Biden is likely to find Xi emboldened in any call after a Chinese-brokered rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran and his meetings with Putin. Reporting by David Brunnstrom and Michael Martina Editing by Don Durfee and Alistair BellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

It was not clear what specific sanctions Washington will propose. Washington and its allies have said in recent weeks that China was considering providing weapons to Russia, which Beijing denies. Before that in New Delhi on Wednesday and Thursday, the war will be discussed by foreign ministers from dozens of countries, including Russia, China and the United States. The initial outreach by Washington on sanctions has not yet led to broad agreement on any specific measures, the sources said. Washington should make China choose between access to the U.S. financial system or aiding Russia's war, Ruggiero said, citing the sanctions approach to Iran and North Korea.

☆ U.S. House panel to hold hearing on policy toward China
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Karen Freifeld | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 21 (Reuters) - The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing next Tuesday with top officials on China policy to identify gaps in pursuing what it called a "more holistic approach" to countering aggression by the Chinese Communist Party. The hearing, announced by the panel's chair, Representative Michael McCaul, a Republican, is called, "Combating the Generational Challenge of CCP Aggression." Alan Estevez, the U.S. Commerce Department's under secretary for industry and security, who oversees restrictions on tech exports to China, is among the witnesses. McCaul has been pressing Estevez on the need to ensure China is not transferring U.S.-origin technology to state sponsors of terrorism, and has called for tighter restrictions on exports to blacklisted companies like China's Huawei, which are viewed as a threat to U.S. national security. Reporting by Karen Freifeld; Editing by David GregorioOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

"My message for Blinken is: say their names," said Katherine Swidan in a phone interview from her home in Luling, Texas. They've been wrongfully detained. And, unlike Griner, the U.S. citizens held in China are not well known to the American public. Families of detained Americans say the freedom of their relatives should not be bundled up with challenging policy issues and should instead be addressed in a separate track focused on humanitarian matters. There have been talks in recent months, Li said, between Washington and Beijing over the Americans detained in China but they did not go anywhere.

☆ Senior U.S. delegation to visit China in coming days
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken reacts as he listens to a youth representative during a visit to Oxygen Park in Education City in Ar-Rayyan, Qatar on November 21, 2022. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink and National Security Council Senior Director for China and Taiwan Laura Rosenberger will travel to China, South Korea and Japan from December 11-14, the State Department said in a statement. The two leaders pledged more frequent communications at a time of simmering differences also on human rights, Russia's invasion of Ukraine and economic issues. The State Department said the delegation will follow up on the meeting "to continue responsibly managing the competition between our two countries and to explore potential areas of cooperation" and will also lay the groundwork for Blinken's visit. Campbell was speaking to an Aspen Security Forum event in Washington two days after the United States announced plans to step up its rotational military presence in key region ally Australia amid shared concerns about China.

☆ ASEAN summit begins with Myanmar likely to dominate agenda; 'little progress expected'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Cambodian Prime Minister and ASEAN host Hun Sen addressed Friday's opening ceremony with a call for vigilance and wisdom during times of economic and geopolitical turmoil. The junta has blamed a lack of progress on the pandemic and obstruction from armed resistance movements that it calls terrorists. James Crabtree, Executive Director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies-Asia, said ASEAN was struggling to cope with internal divisions over Myanmar and other issues. One Western diplomat who will attend the meeting said that while the bloc may try to make the Myanmar peace plan more action-oriented, "little progress is expected". G20 leaders are meeting in Bali next week and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum will take place in Bangkok after that.

☆ Biden to attend summit of Southeast Asian leaders as Myanmar looms
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

BANGKOK — Southeast Asian leaders convene in the Cambodian capital Thursday, faced with the challenge of trying to curtail escalating violence in Myanmar while the country’s military-led government shows no signs of complying with the group’s peace plan. U.S. President Joe Biden will be on hand for the Phnom Penh summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which comes as Washington and Beijing are increasingly jockeying for influence in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition to Myanmar, the four-day meetings are expected to focus on ongoing disputes in the South China Sea, pandemic recovery issues, regional trade and climate change. Neither Xi nor Putin is expected to attend the ASEAN talks or the parallel East Asia Summit, though both China and Russia are thought to be sending high-level delegations. “For Southeast Asia it’s really important to physically show up, and I think the Americans are very aware of this,” Daniel said.

☆ SE Asian ministers discuss Myanmar crisis, without any Myanmar representative
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

JAKARTA, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian foreign ministers began meeting in Jakarta on Thursday to discuss how to kick-start a stalled peace process in military-ruled Myanmar, where dozens have been killed in recent weeks as violence escalated. The meeting at the secretariat of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the Indonesian capital will not be attended by any representatives from Myanmar. Myanmar had been invited to send a non-political representative to the meeting in Indonesia, but the junta did not agree, according to the host government. There was also interest among some ASEAN members to seek quiet negotiations with the junta, the source said. Reporting by Poppy McPherson in Bankok and Stanley Widianto in Jakarta Writing by Ed Davies Editing by Simon Cameron-MooreOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/3] Cambodia's Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn speaks during a meeting with Southeast Asian foreign ministers at the secretariat of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta, Indonesia, October 27, 2022. Galih Pradipta/Pool via REUTERSJAKARTA, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Myanmar's military government warned on Thursday that any pressure from its Southeast Asian neighbours to put a time frame on a peace plan would create "negative implications". No Myanmar representatives were present at the special meeting of the group's foreign ministers to discuss the stalled peace plan. Late on Thursday, Myanmar's military-appointed foreign ministry released a statement blaming armed resistance movements for violence and saying pressure to set a time frame will create more negative implications than positive ones. And Indonesia has mentioned that this request needs to be delivered to Tatmadaw (Myanmar's military) immediately," said Retno.

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