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China’s new foreign minister made a video appearance at a basketball game in Washington to mark the Lunar New Year as efforts mount to defuse tensions between world powers.
Frosty relations between the world’s two largest economies are showing signs of thawing, with a spate of top-level meetings involving stakeholders from both sides.
Qin Gang, who previously served as Beijing’s ambassador to the United States, watched tens of thousands of basketball fans on Saturday in pre-recorded video during a National Basketball Association (NBA) game between the Washington Wizards and the Orlando Magic. Addressed the fans.
In a 40-second video played during a game break, Qin said, “I wish the Chinese and American people a prosperous Year of the Rabbit and a bright future.
As China’s ambassador to the United States for 17 months from July 2021, Qin has walked a fine line between protecting Beijing’s core interests and softening China’s hardline diplomatic stance. I was.
During his year in Washington, Chin threw a free throw at a Wizards game, threw the first pitch at a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game, and rode billionaire Elon Musk and Tesla.
The outreach efforts come ahead of two significant visits to Beijing by US officials.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will visit China soon after holding “constructive” talks with China’s Treasury Secretary on Wednesday, Washington said.
In a statement, the U.S. Treasury Department said the first face-to-face meeting between Prime Minister Yellen and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in Zurich was “candid, substantive and constructive.”
The announcement comes a day after it was confirmed that Secretary of State Anthony Brinken will make a much-anticipated visit to Beijing on February 5-6.
He will be the first Secretary of State to visit China since Republican predecessor Mike Pompeo briefly visited China in October 2018.
China said in December it would seek to “realign” its ties with the United States after President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden met at the G20 summit in Bali last year.
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