ALBAWABA – Official statements from the United States (US) and China confirmed Tuesday that the US commerce secretary will visit China next week, in yet another effort to shore up Sino-American relations.
US commerce secretary Gina Raimondo is slated to arrive in China on August 27 to visit Beijing and Shanghai on a four-day trip on an invite from her Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao.
Washington says it is seeking to better manage its tense relations with China, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). The two powers have been at each other’s throats over everything from trade to human rights and Taiwan.
"Secretary Raimondo looks forward to constructive discussions on issues relating to the US-China commercial relationship, challenges faced by US businesses, and areas for potential cooperation," the US Department of Commerce said in a statement.
The secretary’s visit will build on an agreement between Presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden in Bali last year "to deepen communication between the US and the PRC on a range of issues," Washington said.
Relations between Washington and Beijing have plummeted to some of their worst levels in decades, with Washington's trade curbs topping the list of China’s grievances.
This is not the first visit by a US official to China this year.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had sought to reassure Chinese officials about the expected curbs during a visit to Beijing last month.
In June, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also travelled to Beijing, where he met Xi and said progress had been made on a number of key sources of contention.
However, neither Yellen's nor Blinken's visit led to major breakthroughs, according to AFP.
Invited, US commerce secretary will visit China next week
The US commerce secretary will visit China next week despite the reported Chinese hacking of her department's emails, Reuters highlighted.
China's embassy in Washington responded by saying that identifying the source of cyber-attacks was complex and warned against groundless speculations and accusations.
Raimondo met Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao in May, and discussed trade, investment and export policies in what was until then the first US-China cabinet-level exchange in months, according to Reuters.
The US and China have been engaged in an intensifying economic, trade and tech war for a few years, with both parties escalating the spat in the last couple of months, despite recent diplomatic efforts.
