SHANGHAI, June 28. /TASS/. The renewal of high-level US-Chinese contacts has produced a "timeout" on a number of key issues, but ultimately cannot alter the underlying tensions in the rivalry-based US-China relationship, Su Liuqiang, professor at the Shanghai Institute of International Studies, told TASS.

"The visit of [US Secretary of State Antony] Blinken to China and the subsequent high-level interaction temporarily halted the trend towards degradation in China-US relations, but it will not fundamentally change the model of the China-US relationship, which is based on rivalry," the expert said. High-level interaction between Beijing and Washington on such issues as climate change, drug trafficking and global financial stability "will enable somewhat of a softening in the deepening rivalry and confrontation between China and the US, as well as provide a ‘timeout’ for US-China tensions," Su pointed out.

"On the other hand, many key differences and contradictions between China and the US regarding geopolitics, security, Taiwan, science and technology, and values, as well as topical international and regional issues remain unresolved. The [wall of] ice in the strained China-US relations, created by these points of contention and contradictions, will not melt because of Blinken’s visit. In fact, the lack of any breakthrough results from Blinken’s visit to China and frank exchange of opinions between China and the US proved that these differences and contradictions are hard to overcome. Both sides are trying to control their differences and contradictions, renewing high-level contacts," the expert said.

Su also pointed out that relations between the countries are likely to face new challenges as the US heads towards presidential elections in 2024. In his opinion, the Democrats and the Republicans will certainly try to outdo each other in their willingness to "demonstrate force" to China. "The atmosphere in the China-US relationship is likely to deteriorate once again, and the [nascent] renewal of high-level China-US cooperation resulting from Blinken's visit to China will most likely face enormous political challenges," the expert noted.

Blinken visited China on June 18-19. The trip, initially scheduled for February, was postponed due to an incident involving a Chinese air balloon shot down by a missile in US airspace. Beijing argued that it was a weather balloon, but Washington insisted that it was a spying device used to gather sensitive information. Blinken’s trip marked the first visit to China by a US secretary of state since October 2018.