China says US eagerness to engage is an ‘illusion’

BEIJING - A widely followed state-backed Chinese social media account accused Washington of repeatedly playing tricks and creating the illusion that it is eager to engage with China, days before

an expected visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

While not yet announced by the State Department, a US official has said Mr Blinken will be in China for talks on June 18.

The lead up to the high-level, high-stakes visit has been marred by

fresh US claims of Chinese spying

and scathing Chinese attacks on Washington’s sincerity to improve badly frayed bilateral ties.

Mr Blinken, in February, cancelled a visit to Beijing after

a suspected Chinese spy balloon flew across the United States.

Days ahead of his trip this week, US officials, including Mr Blinken himself, said China had been spying from Cuba for some time and upgraded its intelligence gathering facilities there in 2019, claims that Beijing and Havana rejected as false.

On Monday, Mr Blinken said China’s efforts in Cuba were part of a global effort by Beijing to expand its presence overseas, and US actions to address this since President Joe Biden came to power in January 2021 have produced results, without specifying what those results were.

“Every time they say they want to meet, the United States would play a role and create the false illusion that it is eager to communicate while at the same time repeatedly testing and provoking China’s fundamental principles,” social media user Yuyuan Tantian, who is affiliated with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, wrote in an online article on Tuesday.

The balloon incident at the beginning of the year was a “farce”, and a request by the US defence secretary to meet his Chinese counterpart earlier in June which was rejected was nothing but a “carefully crafted” performance, the article said.

Underscoring the negative mood around the Blinken visit, a man on Tuesday spray-painted anti-American graffiti on the wall and a gate of the US consulate in Hong Kong.

Local TV footage showed the word “hegemony” in English and the words “double standards” in simplified Chinese characters, which are used in mainland China as opposed to the traditional script common in the Chinese-ruled city.

“Since the US has repeatedly emphasised the need to strengthen high-level communication with China, whether Blinken will visit China is a litmus test of US sincerity and political manoeuvring ability,” Chinese state tabloid Global Times wrote in an editorial on Sunday. REUTERS