U.S.-Chinese Meeting Unlikely to Produce any Breakthroughs

According to former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, the meeting between U.S. and Chinese officials this week in Alaska is unlikely to produce any breakthroughs.

The meeting will be held on Thursday among U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security advisor Jake Sullivan, with China’s Yang Jiechi, a member of the Communist Party’s top decision-making group, and Wang Yi, the foreign minister. It will be the Biden administration’s first high-level meeting with Chinese executives.

Blinken fired a salvo against Beijing over Hong Kong, Taiwan, Xinjiang, the South China Sea, and Tibet.

Experts say that those issues are likely to be big conversation topics when the two groups meet in Alaska.

Joe Biden’ approach to Beijing would be different from his predecessor

The Washington-Beijing relationship frayed over the last four years as the Trump administration blamed Beijing for a wide range of grievances, such as intellectual property theft, unfair trade practices, and the COVID-19 pandemic, which was first originated in China.

China and the United States are searching for a new strategic narrative to govern their bilateral relationship. This has become more problematic due to the shifting balance of power between them. Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced that China’s increasing influence had made the two superpowers fierce competitors in areas of trade, investment, capital markets, technology, influence, and ideology.

Rudd said the two countries could identify those avenues for cooperation while also taking note of competition areas and the other party’s red lines. That could potentially prevent the competitive relationship from intensifying into open conflict.

U.S. President Joe Biden has stated that his approach to Beijing would be different from his predecessor. He adds that his administration would work closely with allies to push back against China.

The shooting in Atlanta took the lives of six women of Asian descent

The shootings took the lives of six women of Asian descent. This event stirred considerable outrage and fear in the Asian-American community. Investigators announced they had not ruled out bias as a motivating factor. However, the suspect denied such racial animus once in custody.

According to Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of Atlanta, whatever the motivation was for this guy, most of the victims were Asian. She added, “this is also an issue that is happening across the country. It’s unacceptable, hateful, and has to stop”.

The police arrested Mr. Long, about 150 miles south of Atlanta, after a chase.