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Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken is meeting officials in China this week as disputes over wars, trade, technology and security are testing the two countries\u2019 efforts to stabilize the relationship.<\/p>\n
The United States is heading into an election year in which President Biden will face intense pressure to confront China\u2019s authoritarian government and offer new protections for American businesses and workers from low-priced Chinese imports.<\/p>\n
China is courting foreign investment to help its sluggish economy. At the same time, its leader, Xi Jinping, has been bolstering national security and expanding China\u2019s military footprint around Taiwan and the South China Sea in ways that have alarmed its neighbors.<\/p>\n
Mr. Biden and Mr. Xi have held talks to prevent their countries\u2019 disputes from spiraling into conflict, after relations sank to their lowest point in decades last year. But an array of challenges could make steadying the relationship difficult.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The United States has been pushing back against China\u2019s increasingly assertive claims over swaths of the South China Sea and the self-governed island of Taiwan by building security alliances in Asia.<\/p>\n
That effort has prompted <\/strong>more concerns in Beijing that the United States is leading a campaign to encircle China and contain its rise.<\/p>\n In meetings earlier this month, Mr. Biden met with the leaders of Japan and the Philippines. They discussed territorial conflicts in the South China Sea, including China\u2019s \u201crepeated harassment of lawful Philippine operations,\u201d the U.S. government said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Encounters between Chinese and American military ships and planes in the Taiwan Strait and the South China and East China Seas have continued, raising concerns that an accident could trigger a confrontation between the two powers. That is why U.S. officials have insisted on maintaining close military communication. High-level contacts between the two armies were restored earlier this year after China froze communication in response to former House speaker Nancy Pelosi\u2019s visit to Taiwan in August 2022.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n China says the United States and its allies are stoking confrontation and should not interfere in the region\u2019s affairs. It has already bristled about the United States and the Philippines launching annual joint military exercises this week. The U.S. Army also deployed for the first time<\/a>, as part of an exercise, a midrange missile system in the Philippines that could reach targets in China.<\/p>\n To counter Washington\u2019s efforts, China has been trying to shore up ties with nonaligned countries in the region. The country\u2019s top diplomat, Wang Yi, visited Indonesia, Cambodia and Papua New Guinea last week, around the same time that Mr. Blinken met with foreign ministers from the Group of 7 nations, a grouping Beijing considers a rival for global influence.<\/p>\n U.S. officials say China has played a concerning role in providing the chemicals and precursors that are used to make the powerful drug of fentanyl.<\/p>\n In a meeting in San Francisco in November, President Biden and Mr. Xi resolved to cooperate on tracking and cutting down on those flows. U.S. officials say China has started making some progress on that account, but they\u2019re likely to urge further action.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In a report released last week, a House Congressional committee focused on China alleged that China had actively promoted the supply of fentanyl precursors to the United States, including by subsidizing exporters. A State Department official said that Chinese authorities had started taking action against Chinese synthetic drug and chemical precursor suppliers, but that the U.S. wanted to see progress.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n China has long denied playing a major role in the fentanyl crisis in the United States and has deflected blame by saying it was a victim of Western powers during the Opium War.<\/p>\n The United States and China still have one of the world\u2019s most extensive trading relationships, but it has grown even more contentious in recent months.<\/p>\n U.S. officials have urged<\/a> China to scale back its exports of inexpensive electric vehicles and other green energy goods, saying they are a threat to American jobs. They are weighing whether to raise tariffs on Chinese-made cars and solar panels, in order to block more Chinese imports from the United States.<\/p>\n Last week, the Biden administration announced it would triple some tariffs<\/a> on steel and aluminum products from China and begin an investigation into unfair practices by the Chinese shipbuilding, maritime and logistics sectors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The Biden administration also continues to add more restrictions on selling advanced chips and the machinery used to make them to China, out of concern that AI could aid the Chinese military.<\/p>\n And on Tuesday, the U.S. Senate passed a bill that could force TikTok\u2019s Chinese owner to either sell the app or face being banned in the United States. The ban is likely to be challenged in court.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Beijing has opposed the restrictions, which Mr. Xi has said are an attempt to deny China\u2019s \u201clegitimate right to development.\u201d In response, he has called for China to promote \u201cnew productive forces\u201d \u2014 a government mantra aimed at bolstering the country\u2019s economy through technology and innovation in the hopes of becoming more self-reliant.<\/p>\n U.S. officials have expressed concerns<\/a> that China may seek to influence the outcome of the upcoming U.S. presidential election, including by orchestrating social media campaigns to influence American public opinion. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The National Security Agency said last week<\/a> that there were also more signs that China was trying to gain access to critical American infrastructure in order to threaten those systems in the event of a conflict. Last year, Microsoft said it discovered malicious code<\/a> spread by Chinese government hackers embedded in telecommunications systems in Guam and elsewhere in the United States.<\/p>\nCurbing the Flow of Fentanyl<\/h2>\n
Trade and Technology Restrictions<\/h2>\n
Cybersecurity and Election Interference<\/h2>\n