US Secretary of State to meet with Chinese officials

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi today.

The encounter will mark the first in-person contact between Chinese officials and the Biden administration. The talks are expected to be tense, with Washington and Beijing likely finding little common ground. Expect the dynamics of the Indo-Pacific security order to feature highly on the agenda following the first leaders’ summit of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad)—comprised of the US, Japan, India and Australia—that occurred on Friday.

Chinese state-owned media was quick to condemn the summit and the Quad’s joint declaration calling for a rules-based order. Beijing may flex its muscles by attempting to restrict US navigation through the South China Sea (SCS). Like former president Donald Trump, Biden will likely persist with US freedom of navigation exercises in the SCS but will opt for a multilateral approach. Expect the US to increase coordination with France and the UK, but also ASEAN and Vietnam in particular. Hanoi’s stringent opposition to Chinese assertiveness and its non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council makes Vietnam an attractive partner. In the longer-term, expect the Quad to intensify consultations and military drills as the partnership establishes itself as an important counterweight to China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific.

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