US-China pledge to stabilize deteriorating ties, resume high-level talks after Blinken visit

The United States and China have pledged to stabilize their badly deteriorated ties during a critical visit to Beijing by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met Monday with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Still, it remains to be seen whether the two countries can resolve their most important disagreements, many of which have international implications. After meeting with Blinken, Xi pronounced himself pleased with the outcome and said the sides had agreed to resume a program of understandings that he and President Joe Biden agreed to at a meeting in Bali last year. That program had been thrown into jeopardy in recent months, notably after the U.S. shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon over its airspace in February and amid escalated military activity in the Taiwan Strait.