Image Credit: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China (2015)
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will meet his Chinese counterpart Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Rome this Sunday, for only the second time since a tempestuous meeting in Alaska earlier this year where the Chinese accused the US of 'condescension' towards the Chinese government. This is only the second face-to-face meeting between Blinken and Yi to take place.
Tensions have risen sharply in the times since then, with Chinese aggression on the rise with regards to Taiwan which it claims as a province and has vowed to retake by force, if necessary, one day. US President Joe Biden had last week announced that America would defend Taiwan from overt military aggression but was forced to walk back on that statement after pressure from Beijing.
Earlier this month Washington confirmed that a small number of US troops are on the island to help with training. On Tuesday, Blinken called for Taiwan to be allowed greater involvement in UN agencies, though Beijing insisted it has no place on the world's diplomatic stage. Earlier this week Washington ordered China Telecom Americas to discontinue its services within 60 days -- ending nearly two decades of operations in the country and piling further strain on relations between the two countries. Biden is pursuing a very tough stance on trade with Beijing which continues the trade policies set down by the Trump administration before him.