Blinken tackles a tough China visit. Will it help?

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Shanghai in his second visit to China in less than a year, on the heels of two recent visits by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. On Wednesday Mr Blinken's plane carrying officials and reporters, including the BBC, wound its way from Anchorage, weaving a path over the Pacific well south of Russian territory and heading to the Chinese coastline north of Taiwan and the South China Sea - a route-map reminder of flashpoints. Just hours before Mr Blinken stepped on the tarmac in Shanghai, the US Senate passed a bill package giving a further $8bn of military aid to Taiwan, which President Biden has said the US would defend if attacked by China. On Thursday Mr Blinken will warn foreign minister Wang Yi that China needs to curb the exports of machine tools and microchips to Russia. While relations have started to stabilise, "The United States continues pushing forward the strategy of containing China, keeps adopting erroneous words and actions that interfere in China's internal affairs, smear China's image and undermine China's interests. China resolutely opposes such moves and has taken strong countermeasures", it said. "It seems like Blinken is here to issue an ultimatum to China. We will not give in to him and will not compromise on our core issues."," Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times. One of the most pressing issues for Beijing going into talks this week would be Taiwan, according to Singapore-based expert Alfred Wu. Mr Blinken is visiting China less than a month before the inauguration of William Lai, the pro-sovereignty president of Taiwan reviled by Beijing, and there are concerns it would lead to a spike in tensions in the Taiwan Strait as well as the larger South China Sea."China would want to emphasise the red lines.