Do you remember that Chinese spy balloon? It flew over parts of Alaska, Canada, and then across the continental United States until the U.S. Air Force shot it down off the coast of South Carolina.
That was back in February — and the incident put a big pause on any potential thaw in government relations between Washington and Beijing.
In recent months, there have been modest improvements in communication, mostly focused on senior U.S. officials traveling to China for meetings over the summer.
It’s not yet official, but President Biden is widely expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping next week in San Francisco.
The talks are expected to take place as part of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Xi Jinping in June and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met her counterpart in July, as did climate envoy John Kerry.
In August, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo went to Beijing and Shanghai.
No dramatic breakthroughs came from any of those meetings, but they marked a continuing dialogue.
The expectations are modest for the Biden-Xi meeting.
Unconfirmed reports talk about the restoration of military communications, and the Chinese are clearly interested in encouraging U.S. business investment in China.
Yellen holds two days of meetings in San Francisco with her counterpart today, who’s also the vice-premier, before APEC next week.
