US eagerness to engage is an 'illusion', says Chinese commentator

Days ahead of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Beijing,  a Chinese state-affiliated social media commentator on Tuesday accused Washington of playing tricks and creating an “illusion” that it is eager to engage.

“Every time they say they want to meet, the United States plays a role and creates the false illusion that it is eager to communicate while at the same time repeatedly testing and provoking China’s fundamental principles,” Reuters quoted Yuyuan Tantian, a social media user affiliated with state broadcaster CCTV, as saying in an article.

New US allegations of Chinese espionage and sharp Chinese criticism of Washington’s sincerity in mending chronically frayed relations have clouded the run-up to the crucial visit.

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While the US State Department is yet to officially announce date of Blinken’s visit, a US official claimed the top diplomat will be in China for talks on 18 June.

Blinken had cancelled his visit to Beijing in February after a suspected Chinese spy balloon flew across the United States.

US officials, including Blinken himself, have in recent days said China had been spying from Cuba for some time and upgraded its intelligence gathering facilities there in 2019.

Beijing and Havana have rejected the accusation as false.

On Monday, Blinken said China’s efforts in Cuba were part of a global effort to expand its presence overseas, and US action to address it since President Joe Biden came to power in 2021 had produced “results”, without specifying what those results were.

The balloon incident in February was a “farce”, and a request by the US defence secretary to meet his Chinese counterpart at a conference in Singapore this month, which China rejected, was nothing by a “carefully crafted” performance, the Chinese social media commentator wrote.

‘Hysteria’

On Monday, the US added 43 entities – including 31 from China – to an export control list for training Chinese military pilots and other activities that threaten US national security.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the United States was abusing its power by repeatedly citing national security, to a point of “hysteria”.

Compounding the pessimism over the Blinken visit, a man on Tuesday sprayed painted anti-American graffiti on the wall and a gate of the US consulate in Hong Kong.

Media footage showed the word “hegemony” in English and the words “double standards” in simplified Chinese characters, which are used in mainland China as opposed to a traditional script common in Chinese-ruled Hong Kong.

“Since the US has repeatedly emphasised the need to strengthen high-level communication with China, whether Blinken will visit China is a litmus test of US sincerity and political manoeuvring,” Chinese state tabloid Global Times wrote in an editorial on Sunday.

With inputs from agencies

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