In a bid to ease the fallout from impending restrictions on hi-tech exports to China, U.S. President Joe Biden has been ramping up diplomatic outreach to Beijing, South China Morning Post reports.
The recent meeting between Chinese foreign policy chief Wang Yi and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Jakarta marks their second encounter in less than a month.
Efforts to Prevent Misunderstanding: According to Anna Ashton of Eurasia Group, the Biden administration is keen to avoid a repeat of the steep decline in bilateral relations that followed the Pentagon’s downing of a suspected Chinese spy balloon earlier this year.
“The Biden administration’s thinking it probably can’t hurt to ramp up engagement at the same time that they’re planning to roll out these restrictions,” Ashton said.
“The restrictions were in the works … and with diplomacy underway, there’s far less chance of the restrictions being deeply misunderstood.”
Future Restrictions: Future restrictions could include anything that benefits China’s military and/or pushes forward China’s development at the technological cutting edge, according to Taylor Loeb of research firm Trivium China. This could impact areas like quantum computing, AI, cloud computing, and aerospace.
Despite these diplomatic efforts, military-to-military communication between the U.S. and China remains shut off, amid deepening tensions around Taiwan and in the South China Sea.
Looking Ahead: With the 2024 U.S. presidential election fast approaching, Biden needs to boost the American economy and one way would be to stem China’s dumping of U.S. Treasury bonds.
“Sino-US relations are likely to remain fraught during the U.S. election period next year,” said Wang Yiwei of Beijing's Renmin University.
“So if they don’t seize the opportunity to mend ties, the relationship could spiral out of control later.”
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