Hal Brands, Columnist

The US and China’s Newfound Friendship Can’t Last

Secretary of State Blinken is off to Beijing to keep a delicate balance, but four issues are set to tip the relationship back into high tension.

April 23, 2024 at 8:38 PM UTC

By Hal Brands

Hal Brands is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and the Henry Kissinger Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.

Have a safe trip.
Photographer: Mark Schiefelbein/AFP/Getty Images

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

Ukraine burns and the Middle East simmers, but the Western Pacific appears relatively placid. There hasn’t been a major crisis in US-China relations since the spy balloon fracas of early 2023. Officials in Washington hope the calm will carry on through the 2024 election. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in China this week, as part of a drumbeat of high-level diplomacy. There, he’ll face four key issues that could send tensions spiraling once again.

In August 2022, a crisis over Taiwan brought fears of a devastating conflict. In early 2023, Balloongate shut down the dialogue that had begun when Presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden met in Bali two months before. Since then, however, the relationship has found a bottom.