Blinken's High-Stakes Mission to Cool US-China Tensions.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has begun two days of high-level diplomatic talks in Beijing with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, aimed at cooling the escalating US-China tensions. The talks are expected to cover a range of issues, including trade with Taiwan, human rights conditions in China and Hong Kong, Chinese military assertiveness in the South China Sea, and Russia’s war in Ukraine. Blinken will also be pressing the Chinese to release detained American citizens and to take steps to curb the production and export of fentanyl precursors that are fueling the opioid crisis in the United States. However, prospects for any significant breakthroughs are slim, as already strained ties have grown increasingly fraught in recent years.