With Blinken trip, US and China seek stability but no breakthroughs

Jacob Stokes, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, said that Blinken's trip showed a new stage in the US relationship with China -- trying to maintain stability even while still focusing on the competition.

Stokes said that China as well is "coming around to the idea that there needs to be at least semi-regular engagement" with the United States, even if Beijing is deeply suspicious of Washington's intentions.

China also sees a distinction between Biden's approach and the brazenly confrontational approach of his predecessor Donald Trump, who is attempting a comeback in elections next year.

"I think there is an understanding in Beijing that even if Washington is going to undertake actions that China won't like, they will sort of see them coming for the most part and that there will be a coherence to them, rather than coming out of left field as sometimes happened in the Trump administration," he said.

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