BEIJING, June 17. /TASS/. Top US diplomat Antony Blinken will pay a visit to China on June 18-19, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Wednesday.
"US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit China on June 18-19 in accordance with China-US bilateral agreements," the Chinese Foreign Ministry quoted the diplomat as saying.
Earlier, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang had a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Gang told Blinken that China has always viewed Beijing-Washington relations in accordance with the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and mutually beneficial cooperation, proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping. The Chinese foreign minister also told his US counterpart that Washington's interference in Beijing's domestic affairs, including the Taiwan issue, is unacceptable.
The US side reported that Blinken will raise the issue of creating a communication channel to discuss miscalculations and prevent crises.
"In the course of those discussions, both sides (China and the US - TASS) have indicated a shared interest in making sure that we have communication channels open and that we do everything possible to reduce the risk of miscalculation," Daniel Kritenbrink, the US State Department's top diplomat for East Asia, said.
"There will be a substantive and productive agenda that we'll have before us, but, again, the objective is to focus on <…> top line goals, not necessarily to produce a long list of deliverables," he pointed out.
White House Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell revealed that Blinken also plans to discuss renewing contacts between the American and Chinese armed forces.
"I believe Secretary Blinken will advocate strongly that these lines of communication are necessary. They are how mature, strong militaries interact and the stakes are just too high to avoid these critical lines of communication," Campbell said.
Blinken postponed his February trip to China after US authorities had identified a Chinese balloon at an altitude exceeding the norm for commercial flights. The balloon was shot down with a missile within US airspace. According to the US administration, China was using the balloon to gather critical data. The Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a protest against Washington’s allegations. Beijing explained that the weather balloon had entered US airspace by accident.