U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken\u2019s upcoming trip to Beijing does not mean the United States is heading toward a substantial change in its relationship with the People\u2019s Republic of China, according to U.S. analysts.<\/p>\n
Blinken would be the first top U.S. diplomat to visit Beijing since 2018.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, officials from the two countries are preparing for another in-person and pull-aside meeting between their leaders this year, according to a U.S. official who spoke to VOA on the condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n
But expectations are low that Blinken\u2019s meetings with senior PRC leaders would result in large deliverables or reset the fraught relationship between the two countries.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think there should be many expectations that we\u2019re going to see anything significant breakthroughs for the trip,\u201d said Jude Blanchette, the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).<\/p>\n
\u201cI also don\u2019t think that\u2019s a bad thing, given how far the relationship has deteriorated over the last five years,\u201d Blanchette told reporters during a telephone briefing on Monday evening.<\/p>\n
This month, Blinken told an audience at University of Chicago\u2019s Institute of Politics that open lines of communication can put guardrails on U.S.-China ties amid rising tensions, adding temperature has been lowered after then-Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi\u2019s visit to Taiwan in August of 2022.<\/p>\n
President Joe Biden last met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the margins of the G-20 Summit in Bali last November.<\/p>\n
India will host this year\u2019s G-20 Summit in New Delhi from September 9-10. The U.S. will host this year\u2019s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders\u2019 Summit in San Francisco in November.<\/p>\n
Russia’s Ukraine invasion<\/p>\n
February 24 of this year will mark one year since Russia invaded Ukraine. The United States said it has been very clear to PRC about the implications of providing security and material support to Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Last Thursday, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned a Chinese company \u2014 Changsha Tianyi Space Science and Technology Research Institute Co. LTD, also known as Spacety China \u2014 for providing satellite imagery of Ukraine to support the Kremlin-linked mercenary Wagner Group’s combat operations for Russia.<\/p>\n
Spacety China\u2019s Luxembourg-based subsidiary also was sanctioned.<\/p>\n
U.S. officials and China watchers have said Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine would be on the agenda during Blinken\u2019s meetings in Beijing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe debate over China\u2019s policy toward Russia and Ukraine within China is one of the most contentious issues that I encountered when I was there,\u201d said Scott Kennedy, a senior adviser and Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics at CSIS, who spent six weeks in China last fall. \u201cA lot of people inside China in the expert community think that the Chinese made a strategic blunder.\u201d<\/p>\n
But in public, PRC officials stick with Beijing\u2019s policy position and narrative.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe U.S. is the one who started the Ukraine crisis and the biggest factor fueling it,\u201d said Mao Ning, a spokesperson from China\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday.<\/p>\n
PRC visas <\/p>\n
The Beijing government has suspended all 10-year multiple entry visas for Americans issued before March 26, 2020, when Beijing stopped issuing visas because of the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n
This runs counter to a reciprocal agreement that China made with former President Barack Obama\u2019s administration, according to Dennis Wilder, professor of Asian Studies at Georgetown University. Wilder served from 2009 to 2015 as senior editor of the U.S. president\u2019s Daily Brief.<\/p>\n
Wilder told VOA that Blinken likely will press PRC officials to have the suspension lifted because it affects many Chinese Americans, as well as business and educational exchanges.<\/p>\n
For its part, the PRC government said it will continue to adjust measures according to its pandemic situation and facilitate the recovery of international people-to-people exchange. \u00a0<\/p>\n
A spokesperson said the Chinese Embassy and Consulates General in the U.S. can issue free of charge a new two-entry, six-month valid visa to the applicants who hold a multi-year, multi-entry visa issued before March 26, 2020, that has been suspended. But visas for tourism and medical treatment in China are excluded.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While Americans can apply for new PRC visas, the extensive private information required in the visa application could be used against applicants or to pressure overseas dissent, said experts.<\/p>\n
The current PRC visa application requires private information of applicants\u2019 spouse, parents (even deceased) and children, such as their date of birth, country of birth, nationality, address and occupation. It also asks if applicants\u2019 parents are in China.<\/p>\n
In comparison, information of an applicant\u2019s family members is optional in the previous four-page visa form.<\/p>\n
There also is additional requirement for visa applicants who were born in Taiwan or Hong Kong to provide documents with their original names in Chinese characters, such as for their birth certificates.<\/p>\n
PRC authorities are \u201clooking for vulnerabilities\u201d of overseas Chinese Americans, because such information can be used as a leverage to pressure applicants\u2019 families living in China, said Wilder, citing examples of several Chinese American reporters who left the mainland China because of this type of pressures.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would be worried filling out all that information,\u201d Bonny Lin, director of China Power Project at CSIS, told VOA.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would not be uncharacteristic of what we’ve seen in terms of the overall trend in China, in which China wants to have better control and increased surveillance on all activities within its border,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Asked if such private information provided by U.S. officials traveling to China can be used as a form of political intelligence, Lin agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefinitely yes, because they are collecting that information for use,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
For PRC nationals applying for U.S. non-immigrant visas, while applicants are required to provide their family information, the requirement is not as extensive. Also, the U.S. does not ask for specific and private information about visa applicants\u2019 children.<\/p>\n
A U.S. State Department spokesperson declined to provide comments to VOA. A spokesperson from the PRC Embassy did not address questions regarding concerns over family information required in the visa application.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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