Blinken will visit China after the United States Congress has just approved a bill that includes military aid to Taiwan, a point of friction between both sides. The package, passed on Saturday in the House of Representatives and last night in the Senate, is valued at 95 billion dollars: 60.84 billion dollars for Ukraine; 26 billion for Israel, and about eight billion for Taiwan and allies in the Indo-Pacific.

According to a press release from the State Department, Blinken will meet with senior Chinese authorities in Shanghai and Beijing “to discuss a range of bilateral, regional and global issues,” including the crisis in the Middle East, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, items related to the China Strait and the South China Sea, as well as to evaluate the commitments made by Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping at the Woodside Summit, California, November of last, in areas such as anti-drug cooperation, military communication, artificial intelligence and strengthening ties between peoples.

The statement stresses that Blinken “will reiterate the importance of the United States and the People’s Republic of China responsibly managing competition, even in areas where our two countries do not agree.”

Blinken’s trip follows a telephone conversation between the presidents of China and the United States early in April, and the recent visit of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who warned that a decoupling between the two powers would have disastrous consequences for the the world’s economy.

The Washington-Beijing ties are complex, in many cases tense, and on a tightrope. US arms sale to Taiwan late February has caused more protests and tensions with China.

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