US carmaker Tesla’s mega battery plant in Shanghai has obtained a construction permit, making it the first energy storage mega project outside the US. The plant is expected to enter mass production in the first quarter of 2025.
Megapack is a powerful battery that provides energy storage and support, helping to stabilize the grid supply and prevent outages.
The new mega project was included in a new project service pack in Lingang New Area within the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, meaning the enterprises there can directly contact responsible departments for a more efficient response and problem-solving mechanism since the early start, said Min Zhiguang, an official from Lingang.
The giant battery plant, covering a total area of 200,000 square meters and with an investment of 1.45 billion yuan ($200.27 million), plans to produce 10,000 Megapack units annually with a total energy storage scale of up to 40 gigawatt-hours. Each of the unit can store more than 3 megawatt-hours of electricity, which can be integrated into the renewable power system, peak demand management and other multi-scenario applications, local officials said.
In contrast to the US government’s stubborn efforts to suppress China’s emerging industries, the streamlined granting of the construction permit by Shanghai is just another example showcasing China’s earnest efforts to attract foreign investment.
Thanks to China’s bid to continuously optimize business environment and high-quality opening-up, foreign businesses are confident in the Chinese economy and remain committed to expanding their operations in the Chinese market, many business leaders from Asia, Europe and North America told the Global Times at a global trade and investment promotion summit in Beijing on Monday, which drew participants from over 30 countries and regions.
As the Biden administration reportedly plans to impose additional tariffs on EVs, semiconductors, solar panels and medical supplies imported from China, experts noted that the protectionist move only reveals its defensive mindset and its struggle in competing with China's new-energy industry, and the US protectionism will backfire.
Meanwhile, Chinese officials criticized the US government’s ill-intended smearing of China's economic growth prospects and US officials’ seeking to suppress China's leading industries with absurd claims such as "overcapacity."
China saw a surge in domestic tourist trips during the five-day May Day holidays, with nearly 300 million trips taken within the country, reflecting the growing momentum in the country's economic recovery.
According to data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, there were 295 million domestic trips reported during the May Day holidays, up 7.6 percent year-on-year and 28.2 percent higher than 2019.
Domestic tourism spending also saw a significant increase, reaching 166.89 billion yuan ($23.51 billion), a 12.7 percent year-on-year rise and a 13.5 percent increase from 2019.
The growth rate in tourism trips and spending during the May Day holidays surpassed that of other major holidays such as the Qingming Festival and the Spring Festival, indicating a strong recovery in tourism and domestic consumption, experts said.
Cross-border travel boom
In addition to domestic travel, China also saw a significant increase in inbound and outbound trips during the May Day holidays, with more than 3.67 million trips recorded. Favorable policies such as the resumption of flights and measures to facilitate international payment contributed to the rapid recovery of the tourism industry.
Popular destinations for outbound tourism from China included Singapore, Japan, Thailand, the US and South Korea, while top source countries for foreign tourists visiting China included South Korea, Japan, and the UK.
The major Chinese platforms saw a boom in inbound and outbound orders. Trip.com reported a staggering 105 percent year-on-year growth in inbound tourism orders. According to Alipay, during the 2024 May Day holidays, the use of Alipay by inbound tourists with foreign cards increased by seven times compared to the previous year.
Tuniu.com reported a 190 percent rise in outbound tourism trips on the platform. Fliggy, a domestic travel platform under Alibaba, reported a doubling in overseas hotel bookings compared to last year, as well as a 15-fold increase in cruise trip orders year-on-year.
New forms of cultural and tourism consumption, such as immersive night tours and camping, also gained popularity during this year's May Day holidays. National-level night cultural and tourism consumption venues saw a total of 72.58 million visits, up 6.9 percent compared to the same period in 2023.
The national box office also saw significant growth during the May Day holidays, reaching 1.527 billion yuan with 37.77 million moviegoers, exceeding figures from the same period last year.
It is worth noting that the growth in travel and tourism spending during the May Day holidays surpassed other major holidays so far this year, highlighting Chinese people's increasing desire to travel and spend amid accelerated consumption recovery, Yang Chang, chief analyst at Zhongtai Securities Research Institute, told the Global Times on Monday.
The May Day holidays saw a significant increase in domestic travel with 295 million trips, marking a growth of 28.2 percent compared to 2019. This surge in travel surpasses the 11.5 percent growth during the Qingming Festival and the 19.0 percent growth during the Spring Festival, indicating a further recovery in domestic tourism willingness.
Domestic tourists spent a total of 166.89 billion yuan, an increase of 13.5 percent compared to 2019. This growth rate is significantly higher than the 12.7 percent increase during the Qingming Festival and the 7.7 percent increase during the Spring Festival.
The resilience of China's economy was on full display during the May Day holidays, Li Yong, a senior research fellow at the China Association of International Trade, told the Global Times on Monday. He dismissed claims from foreign media that the Chinese economy's growth has hit its ceiling.
"The improving economic outlook is giving people more confidence in their future financial situation. The significant increase in the number of people choosing to travel also reflects their confidence in China's economic growth," Li said.
Additionally, the increase in the number of international tourists traveling to China during the May Day holidays also sends a positive signal on the current development momentum of the Chinese economy, prompting their desire to come to China and experience its progress, Li said.
The tourism and consumption activities during the May Day holidays play a vital role in stimulating the economy by unleashing demand. This will further boost production in a beneficial mechanism, pushing the economy to work at full capacity, Cao Heping, an economist at Peking University, told the Global Times on Monday.
China's first-quarter retail sales jumped 4.7 percent year-on-year to 12.03 trillion yuan, underscoring stable consumption expansion after a surge in consumer spending during the Spring Festival holidays.
Following a 4.7 percent growth in the first quarter, there is still potential for further consumer spending growth, experts said, expecting the implementation of consumer product trade-ins to continue to drive consumer spending recovery and provide new impetus to propel the world's second-largest economy.
According to the Ministry of Commerce, during the 2024 May Day holidays, the sales of key retail and catering enterprises nationwide increased by 6.8 percent compared to the same period last year. Sales of automobiles, household appliances and furniture were up by 4.8 percent, 7.9 percent, and 4.6 percent respectively, as a result of trade-in campaigns.
Cao expects total retail sales of consumer goods in the second quarter to increase by over 7 percent, driving GDP growth between 5.4 and 5.5 percent.
China's GDP growth rate beat market expectations to reach 5.3 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, bringing a good start to the year and laying a strong foundation for achieving the annual development targets.
China's General Administration of Customs (GAC) announced on Friday that it has allowed, effective immediately, the import of Hungarian fresh cherries that meet relevant requirements.
It is part of the achievements during Chinese top leader's state visit to Hungary from Wednesday to Friday, during which the two sides have elevated ties to all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership and reached a number of deals in cooperation involving the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), finance, green development, agriculture, tourism and culture.
As China's imports of fresh cherries jump significantly, it is expected that Hungarian fresh cherries will gradually claim a foothold in the fast-growing Chinese market, an industry insider said.
Last year, China's cherry trade reached 351,200 tons, up 77.69 percent from the reading in 2019, data from Chinese research firm Zhiyan Consultancy showed. Among which, China imported 348,100 tons of fresh cherries. And the country roughly consumes 22.7 percent of the global cherry output in 2022, the world's largest market.
In addition to Hungary, about 11 countries and regions have also obtained quarantines access qualification for cherry exports to China to date, including Chile, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Argentina.
Observers also said the expanding agricultural trade could be a new growth point in driving the overall trade between China and Hungary, who are each other's major trading partners. Currently, China is Hungary's largest trading partner outside of Europe, while Hungary is one of China's main trading partners in the Central and Eastern European region. Hungary is also one of the Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) with the largest number of agricultural product export permits to China.
According to the joint statement on the establishment of an all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership for the new era released by China and Hungary on Thursday, the two sides recognized the huge potential in agricultural cooperation between them and the sound progress made under the framework of the China-CEEC agricultural cooperation mechanism.
The two sides have vowed to utilize the China-Hungary high-level working group on agriculture and other mechanisms, in order to strengthen economic, trade and investment cooperation between agricultural enterprises of both sides, widen market access, promote the cooperation of "small and beautiful" projects, and strengthen cooperation in areas such as animal health and joint research and development of deep processing technologies for agricultural products.
China's GAC has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding on animal and plant quarantine for import and export with Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture during the top leader's visit.
The bilateral trade volume between China and Hungary in 2023 reached $14.52 billion, an increase of 73 percent compared with that in 2013, according to the China-Hungary Investment and Cooperation Report.
Xu Feihong, the newly appointed Chinese ambassador to India, arrived in New Delhi on Friday. With the position vacant for 18 months, the arrival of a new ambassador presents a valuable opportunity for both countries to enhance communication, minimize misunderstandings, and reduce misjudgments, analysts said, noting that Xu's assumption of office is also a positive factor toward fostering the return of bilateral relations to a path of healthy and stable development.
Officials from the Protocol Division of Ministry of External Affairs of India, Dean of Diplomatic Corps, Ambassador of Eritrea to India H.E. Alem Tsehaye Woldemariam and Minister Ma Jia, Minister Wang Lei, Minister Counselor Chen Jianjun from the Chinese Embassy greeted Ambassador Xu and his wife Tan Yuxiu at the airport, according to a release from the Chinese Embassy in India.
Xu is the 17th Chinese ambassador to India. Since former ambassador Sun Weidong left his position, the post of Chinese ambassador to India has been vacant for 18 months, marking the longest vacancy since the restoration of mutual ambassadorial appointments between China and India in 1976.
The official WeChat account of the Chinese Embassy in India published Sun's farewell speech on October 25, 2022. On November 23 of the same year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website announced that Sun, in his capacity as Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, met with Mongolia's ambassador to China.
Xu is a veteran diplomat with experience in several countries. According to the website of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he has served as the deputy director-general of the Department of the European Affairs, the ambassador to Afghanistan, the deputy director-general of the Department of Personnel of the Foreign Ministry, the ambassador to Romania and director of the Department of Service for Foreign Ministry Home and Overseas Offices. From 2021 to 2023, he served as Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Xu's assumption of office as the Chinese ambassador to India has caught attention. Before departing for India, Xu told media about his top priority tasks after taking office, saying that he would adhere to the important consensus between the leaders of the two countries, reach out to friends from all walks of life in India, sincerely enhance mutual understanding and trust, make efforts to restore exchanges and cooperation in various fields, and create favorable conditions for the healthy and stable development of China-India relations. Ambassador Xu's selection from among senior officials of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs highlights China's significant commitment to bilateral relations, Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times on Friday.
Qian also noted that Ambassador Xu's assumption of office coincides with a crucial period in China-Indian relations. India is currently undergoing elections and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed a positive attitude toward China-Indian relations before the elections.
In an interview with Newsweek in April, Modi said that "we need to urgently address the prolonged situation on our borders so that the abnormality in our bilateral interactions can be put behind us." He also noted that stable and peaceful relations between India and China are important for not just the two countries but the entire region and world.
After the Galwan Valley conflict of June 2020, tensions between China and India escalated, and the China-India bilateral relations, which have been influenced by border conflicts, have remained at a relatively low level with multiple destabilizing factors. However, despite ongoing differences, the two countries have maintained dialogue and cooperation mechanisms, including talks between militaries and border negotiations, to prevent confrontations, analysts said.
Ambassador Xu's coming to India will help enhance communication between China and India, reducing misunderstandings and miscalculations, and promote the bilateral relations back to a track of healthy and stable development, said Qian, also urging India to seize the opportunity to work with China and jointly improve bilateral relations.
Chinese researchers have discovered a new species of impatiens in southwest China's Guizhou Province and named it Impatiens beipanjiangensis.
The yellow flowers are described in a paper published in a recent edition of the journal PhytoKeys.
The species is named after the Beipanjiang River Basin in Panzhou City, where a team of botanists first found the specimen in October 2019 during a field survey, said Xu Jian, a member of the team and a researcher with the Guizhou Botanical Garden.
Botanists have so far located about 5,100 plants of the species mostly in the humid valley environment 1,300-1,500 meters above sea level.
The new species, which flowers in October and November, is similar to some other impatiens species in morphology but has significant differences in its sepals, pollen, seed, and other traits, according to researchers.
China is concerned about Japan's plan to join AUKUS and firmly opposes relevant countries cobbling together exclusive groupings, building bilateral or multilateral military alliances targeting China, creating division and confrontation and stoking bloc confrontation, a spokesperson from China's Ministry of National Defense (MND) said on Thursday.
The remarks were made by Wu Qian, a spokesperson for the MND, in response to recent reports that Japan has officially announced it will join AUKUS, while Canada's Prime Minister is considering increasing submarine deployments and starting negotiations on joining AUKUS.
Wu said that China is gravely concerned. "We firmly oppose relevant countries cobbling together exclusive groupings, building bilateral or multilateral military alliances targeting China, creating division and confrontation and stoking bloc confrontation. The Asia-Pacific is a big stage for peace and development, not a wrestling ground for geopolitical competition," Wu noted.
China is a cooperation partner for all countries, not a challenge to anyone. Disregarding the concerns of regional countries and the international community, the US, UK and Australia have continuously sent signals of AUKUS expansion, which have severely impacted peace and stability in the Asia Pacific. Many regional countries are deeply concerned about it, said Wu.
Wu also responded to the US revamp of its military command in Japan, a move media said will form better coordination and increased deterrence against China.
Wu said that the US-Japan alliance is a product of the Cold War and a bilateral arrangement that should not target third parties or disrupt regional peace and stability. Japan once took the wrong path of militarism, launching aggressive wars and committing serious crimes against humanity, causing profound disasters in the region and the world. Instead of reflecting seriously on its past actions, Japan is once again showing a dangerous trend of military expansion.
In recent times, the US and Japan have intensified military collusion, promoting camp confrontation and using the unfounded "China threat" rhetoric as an excuse to create targeted "small cliques." This goes against the trend of the times and will only make people see more clearly the harmful intentions of the US-Japan alliance toward regional peace and stability, said the spokesperson.
He said China urges relevant countries to stop creating confrontation and hostility, as it will only increase regional tensions and ultimately backfire on themselves.
China's Chang'e-7 mission has selected six intl payloads to carry onboard, based on scientific objectives and engineering feasibility, from seven countries and intl agencies including Egypt/Bahrain, Italy, Russia, Switzerland, Thailand, and the International Lunar Observatory Association.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday called on both China and Germany to view and develop bilateral relations from a long-term and strategic perspective, and work together to inject greater stability and certainty into the world. Xi made the remarks during a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who concluded his three-day China visit in Beijing after leading a grand delegation to Chongqing and Shanghai.
Against the backdrop of the EU's subsidy accusations on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) and wind turbines, and the US-initiated "overcapacity" hype, Xi called for viewing the production capacity issue objectively and dialectically. The two leaders also had an in-depth exchange of views on the crisis in Ukraine and other international and regional issues of mutual interest, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
On Tuesday, Xi and Scholz also took a stroll around the grounds of Diaoyutai State Guesthouse amid the mild breeze in the verdant spring, according to media reports.
A friendly atmosphere could be felt throughout Scholz's visit, during which he visited German companies' China plants and had exchanges with students at Tongji University in Shanghai, an institute founded by a German doctor a century ago which has close cooperation with Germany.
Scholz's full and extensive schedule and his remarks on some sensitive topics showed that the German Chancellor has maintained a strategic balance amid pressure from other parties like the EU and the US, said Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at the Renmin University of China.
Always regarding Germany and the EU as partners, China can provide the certainty Germany is in urgent need of as three uncertainties - the Ukraine crisis, US presidential elections and the European Parliament elections, are lingering, Wang told the Global Times on Tuesday.
The positive results of the visit are beyond the expectations of some observers, and Wang also sees the leaders' meeting and Scholz's visit as injecting valuable and much needed positivity into turbulent China-EU relations.
When a populist wind seems to be growing stronger within the EU, leading to biased and combative opinions on China, it is hoped that Germany, after an in-depth engagement with China, will continue to lead the rational voices inside the EU, analysts said.
Supply chain
During the Tuesday meeting, Xi noted that the industrial and supply chains of China and Germany are deeply intertwined and the markets of the two countries are highly interdependent. The mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Germany is not a "risk," but a guarantee for the stability of bilateral relations and an opportunity for the future, Xi said.
The two countries have huge potential for win-win cooperation in both traditional fields such as machinery manufacturing and automobiles and emerging fields including green transformation and digital artificial intelligence, Xi noted.
The two sides should carry forward the distinctive characteristics of mutual benefit and win-win outcomes and achieve mutual success, Xi said, adding that China's exports of electric vehicles, lithium batteries and photovoltaic products have not only enriched global supply and alleviated global inflationary pressure, but also contributed greatly to the global response to climate change and to a green and low-carbon transformation.
Noting that both China and Germany depend heavily on industry and support free trade and economic globalization, Xi said the two sides should be vigilant against rising protectionism, look at the issue of production capacity objectively and dialectically from a market-oriented and global perspective, adhere to economic principles and foster further cooperation, Xinhua reported.
For his part, Scholz said that through his visit in the past days, he was impressed by China's development achievements and the close, sound cooperation between German and Chinese companies.
Germany is willing to continue to strengthen the relationship with China, deepen bilateral dialogue and cooperation in various fields, promote people-to-people exchanges in such areas as education and culture, which is important for both countries and the world at large, he said.
Germany opposes protectionism and supports free trade. As an important member of the EU, Germany is willing to play an active role in promoting the good development of EU-China relations, Scholz said.
On Tuesday, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and the German chancellor jointly attended the Symposium of the China-Germany Economic Advisory Committee in Beijing with about 20 entrepreneurs from the two countries.
Li stressed that the Chinese government is willing to work with the German government to provide more policy support to make cooperation between the two sides smoother and more efficient, and to promote the sustained, stable and healthy development of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.
Germany has been China's largest trading partner in Europe for 49 consecutive years, while China has been Germany's largest global trading partner for eight consecutive years.
Sun Yanhong, a senior research fellow at the Institute of European Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the grand delegation fully demonstrates the great importance Germany attaches to China.
In regard to the thorny EV issue, Wang said that Scholz, after visiting Chinese plants, could better understand that the competitiveness of the Chinese EV industry does not come from "subsidies," but infrastructure, affordable energy and technological innovation.
Imposing punitive tariffs would be lose-lose; China and Germany should focus on how make the cake bigger rather than how to cut it, said He Weiwen, a senior fellow from the Center for China and Globalization. "If China and Germany can cooperate on the EV sector, that is to say realizing benign competition, it would stimulate the sluggish global economy."
Sun underlined the potential in cooperation on green transformation in a broader sense, such as AI and self-driving, and smart manufacturing.
As the world's second- and third-largest economies, China and Germany have a global responsibility to smoothen cooperation and contribute to the stability of global supply and industrial chains, Sun said.
Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of Germany-based political and economic think tank the Schiller Institute, told the Global Times in an earlier interview that for an export economy like Germany, it would be "suicidal" to follow these calls for "de-risking."
Promoting peace
Amid major geopolitical tensions and flashpoints, analysts stressed that although China and Germany have different systems, cultures and ideologies, their communication and coordination are crucial for retaining geopolitical stability to the utmost and promoting global peace.
On the lingering Ukraine crisis which has brought Europe heavy losses, Xi proposed four principles to prevent crisis from spiraling out of control and to restore peace at an early date.
"First, we should prioritize the upholding of peace and stability and refrain from seeking selfish gains. Second, we should cool down the situation and not add fuel to the fire. Third, we need to create conditions for the restoration of peace and refrain from further exacerbating tensions. Fourth, we should reduce the negative impact on the world economy and refrain from undermining the stability of global industrial and supply chains," Xi said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Tuesday that China and Germany are committed to upholding the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, including the maintenance of sovereignty and territorial integrity. This is the necessary foundation for a sustainable security architecture and should be respected.
China and Germany encourage and support efforts to seek a political solution for peace in Ukraine and are willing to maintain close and active communication on the upcoming high-level meeting in Switzerland and other relevant international events in the future, Lin said.
China and Germany jointly call for: opposition to the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons; opposition to attacks on nuclear power plants and other peaceful nuclear facilities; proper resolution of international food security issues, contributing to ensuring global food security without hindering food production and exports; compliance with international humanitarian law, protection of civilians, early mutual release of prisoners of war, and respect for the basic rights of prisoners of war, the spokesperson noted.
The issue has been a major obstacle to China-Germany and China-EU relations, causing political mistrust, therefore Sun believes that President Xi's proposals can better dispel misunderstandings on China's stance and consolidate the common ground, particularly not using nuclear weapons.
High energy prices due to the crisis could continue to drag the German economy while a possible return of Donald Trump to the US presidency could lead to new tension in the transatlantic relationship, analysts said. The urgent task is to minimize the impact of geopolitical tensions and uncertainties, not seeding more confrontation or hostility, they said.
Xi and Scholz on Tuesday also exchanged views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other international and regional issues of common concern.
Scholz said that Germany is willing to enhance communication and coordination with China, jointly address global challenges such as climate change, and is committed to upholding the multilateral international order, promoting world peace and development, and opposes confrontation.
The US has dispatched its top diplomats for East Asia to China, which analysts see as a move to test China's reactions after it elevated defense relations with Japan and Philippines amid escalating tension in the South China Sea.
According to US Department of State, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink will visit China from Sunday to Tuesday. He will be joined by National Security Council Senior Director for China and Taiwan Affairs Sarah Beran.
The two will meet with Chinese officials as part of ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication and to responsibly manage competition, according to the US state department.
Kritenbrink's trip comes days after the first-ever trilateral summit between the US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr in Washington on Thursday US local time.
The three leaders vowed to enhance military ties, and their joint statement termed China's actions to safeguard its sovereignty as "a dangerous and aggressive behavior" in the South China Sea, and as "attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force or coercion in the East China Sea," according to media reports.
Reiterating the US' "ironclad" defense commitments to the two Asian countries, Biden said any attack on Philippine aircraft, vessels or armed forces in the South China Sea will invoke our Mutual Defense Treaty against the backdrop of escalating China-Philippine row, CNN reported.
Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Sunday that the US, after a series of provocative actions targeting China, aims to observe China's reactions and potential countermeasures. If China responds strongly, the US "may restrain itself" to some extent.
Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that the US is well aware of China's military capabilities in the Western Pacific, and it will not carry out any substantive acts, otherwise it will incur unbearable consequences.
Observers underlined US hypocrisy in its communication with China, particularly on security issues. The US provokes first and when China responds, it makes a "crisis management" gesture as if it were China's fault to have not tolerated those provocations.
The Taiwan question is also on Kritenbrink's agenda. As May 20 approaches when the new regional leader is about to be sworn in, the US does not want "troubles beyond US control" across the Taiwan Straits and seeks to communicate with China in this regard, Li said.
The US is also dreaming of China's assistance and smooth coordination to relieve the US from the pressures of dealing with the lingering Russia-Ukraine crisis and the Middle East conflicts, Li said, but Washington's "ultimate motivation is to better compete with China."
When the US is the actual culprit behind many of the conflicts and crises, its attempts to mediate and de-escalate the situations are very much deceptive gestures, experts said.
Analysts warn that the US should not have any illusions that China could compromise on its core interests and sovereignty.
"China is always open to dialogue with the US on issues of shared concern, but the dialogue should be based on an equal footing and mutual respect, and the promises made between the two sides should be fulfilled," Li said.
US media earlier reported that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is about to visit China, without specifying the dates. It is believed that Kritenbrink's trip also aims to communicate with China on arrangements for Blinken's trip, and pave the way for more constructive talks.
But before Blinken's visit happens, nothing can be ruled out, Li said, citing the postponement of Blinken's visit for months in 2023 due to the balloon incident.
