US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is likely to reschedule a visit to China in the coming weeks after canceling a plan for February, a US administration official said Tuesday.

The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said no date has yet been set.

The two powers are once again trying to defuse tensions that escalated in February when a high-altitude Chinese balloon flew over US airspace, which Washington called a spy and sent an F-22 fighter jet to shoot it down.

The incident led to the cancellation of Mr. Blinken’s official visit to China.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said yesterday that recent talks with Beijing over a visit by US officials discussed “possible future visits,” calling the contacts “very useful.”

“I think you will see how we will talk about future visits there in the near future,” Mr. Kirby said during a briefing for accredited editors to the President of the United States.

State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said Deputy Secretary of State for East Asia Daniel Crittenbrick and President Joe Biden’s China and Taiwan Affairs Advisor Sarah Beran had “candid and productive” talks during their visit to China.

As for Mr. Blinken, he said “we are looking forward to rescheduling the visit as soon as conditions permit”.

“We believe there is nothing better than face-to-face meetings and negotiations, whether in Washington or Beijing, to make progress,” Mr. Patel told reporters.

Tensions between the US and China have escalated in recent years over a range of issues, from trade to security to Taiwan.

The two presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping agreed to cooperate on some fronts in their talks at the G20 summit in November in Bali, but the hot air balloon incident made matters worse.

Source: RES-IPE