In the News

Republicans are using Secretary of State Antony Blinken's trip to Beijing to portray the Biden administration as weak on China, framing the attempted diplomatic reset as tantamount to appeasement.

Blinken made the two-day visit, in which he met with top-ranking diplomats and President Xi Jinping, amid what both sides acknowledge is a low point in relations between the United States and China. Blinken had planned to visit in February but postponed the trip after the U.S. shot down a Chinese balloon suspected of spying on nuclear military sites.

Washington has taken an increasingly confrontational stance toward China, America's biggest geopolitical rival, but Republicans say the Biden administration is refusing to take needed steps to contain Beijing in the pursuit of "fruitless" diplomacy.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), the chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, urged new sanctions on Chinese officials in the run-up to Blinken's trip and is pushing for tighter export controls.

Continue reading here