US Trade Representative Katherine Tai plans to meet China’s commerce minister in Detroit later this month, people familiar with the matter said, in what would be the most senior in-person encounter between the nations since the US shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon.
(Bloomberg) — US Trade Representative Katherine Tai plans to meet China’s commerce minister in Detroit later this month, people familiar with the matter said, in what would be the most senior in-person encounter between the nations since the US shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon.
The meeting between Tai and Wang Wentao would likely occur on the sidelines of a gathering of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation trade ministers on May 25-26, according to the people, who asked not to be identified citing information that isn’t yet public.
That event was announced last year, and Wang would be expected to attend under normal circumstances.
But senior-level contacts between Washington and Beijing have been largely suspended since the balloon incident despite US entreaties. Also, Chinese leaders have only recently begun to travel overseas again as the country emerges from strict controls imposed during the Covid 19 pandemic.
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Neither China’s Ministry of Commerce nor state media has announced Wang is headed to the APEC gathering.
A USTR spokesman declined to comment on the matter. China’s Ministry of Commerce and the Chinese embassy in Washington didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
There are some indications that communication is set to resume between the world’s two largest economies, which have seen tensions escalate over US support for Taiwan and export controls restricting China’s access to high-end technology.
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang met US Ambassador Nicholas Burns in Beijing on Monday for the first time since Qin took the position, a sign that Beijing may soon allow more senior-level discussions.
“The Qin-Burns meeting suggests that Washington’s time in the ‘penalty box’ may be ending,” said Daniel Russel, a former assistant secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs in the Obama administration.
“Until now, Burns has largely been denied high-level meetings.”
The Pentagon has also submitted a request for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to meet Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu in Singapore in June, Bloomberg News reported last week.
China has rebuffed Austin’s outreach so far for a call.
Improving relations could open the way to clearing a backlog of bilateral engagements. This includes a long-anticipated phone call between President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and a visit to China by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who canceled a trip to China as the balloon incident unfolded.
–With assistance from Ye Xie, Eric Martin, Yujing Liu and James Mayger.
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