Blinken to Travel to China Next Week, Carrying Out Trip Postponed after Spy Balloon Incident

Secretary of State Antony Blinken listens as he attends a joint news conference with Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, not pictured, at the Intercontinental Hotel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, June 8, 2023. (AP)
Secretary of State Antony Blinken listens as he attends a joint news conference with Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, not pictured, at the Intercontinental Hotel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, June 8, 2023. (AP)
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Blinken to Travel to China Next Week, Carrying Out Trip Postponed after Spy Balloon Incident

Secretary of State Antony Blinken listens as he attends a joint news conference with Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, not pictured, at the Intercontinental Hotel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, June 8, 2023. (AP)
Secretary of State Antony Blinken listens as he attends a joint news conference with Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, not pictured, at the Intercontinental Hotel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, June 8, 2023. (AP)

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is planning to travel to China this month as the Biden administration pushes to improve badly deteriorated ties with the Chinese.

US officials say Blinken expects to be in Beijing on June 18 for meetings with senior Chinese officials, including with Foreign Minister Qin Gang and possibly President Xi Jinping.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because neither the State Department nor the Chinese foreign ministry have yet confirmed the trip.

The visit, which was agreed between Xi and President Joe Biden last year at a meeting in Bali, had been initially planned for February but was postponed after the spy balloon incident in which the US shot down a Chinese aircraft that Beijing insisted was a weather balloon that had strayed off course.

Since then, there have been contacts between the US and China, but they have been rare as tensions have risen over China's conduct in the South China Sea, aggressive actions toward Taiwan and support for Russia's war against Ukraine.

Last week, China's defense minister rebuffed a request from US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for a meeting on the sidelines of a security symposium in Singapore.

However, China's commerce minister traveled to the US last month and Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, in Vienna in early May.

The White House said at the time that the meeting “was part of ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication and responsibly manage competition. The two sides agreed to maintain this important strategic channel of communication to advance these objectives.”

More recently, the top US diplomat for the Asia-Pacific region, Daniel Kritenbrink, traveled to China earlier this week along with a senior National Security Council official.



Iran Says it Has Sent Satellite Into Space

In January, Iran said it successfully launched three satellites into space with a rocket. EPA
In January, Iran said it successfully launched three satellites into space with a rocket. EPA
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Iran Says it Has Sent Satellite Into Space

In January, Iran said it successfully launched three satellites into space with a rocket. EPA
In January, Iran said it successfully launched three satellites into space with a rocket. EPA

Iran Saturday sent a research satellite into orbit with a rocket built by the Revolutionary Guard, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
The report said the Chamran-1 satellite has a weight of 60 kilograms and successfully reached in 550-kilometer orbit in space. It said testing space hardware and software is the main mission of the satellite.
IRNA said land stations received signals from the satellite, too.
It said the satellite-carrier rocket Qaem-100, using solid fuel, was designed and made by the Guard aerospace division. Iran says it has 13 more satellite launches in a row.
Though Iran has long planned to send satellites into orbit, this is the first launch under reformist President Masoud Pezezhkian after his hardline predecessor Ebrahim Raisi died in a May helicopter crash.
In January, Iran said it successfully launched three satellites into space with a rocket.