People who are upset about the meetings are missing the point. Just what did China give up? 35m of Xi’s time, and no concrete concessions of any kind, not even the super low hanging fruit of agreeing to pick the up phone if senior US military officials tries to call them. And what was the alternative? Ghost the US and see what fresh antics they try to pull to get China’s attention? That’s far more likely to accelerate the slide to war than for America and magically see the errors of its past ways and fundamentally change course. China doesn’t want war with the US. It is not afraid of it and actively preparing to win such a war, but only a fool and irresponsible leader would push to accelerate and embrace such a war due to the profound negative impact this will have on China and the world.
But what did Blinken have to give up to get this audience? Undisclosed, but it will almost certainly have to be something concrete and substantive. Because China can bring out a literal phone book of recent examples to underscore the point why mere promises from the US means shit to China.
In effect, China has turned the tables on the US to get concrete concessions from the US in exchange for mere words from China.
Also, pay special attention to Xi’s tone. That conveys far more meaning than the words said and is the core reason for these face-to-face meetings, so you can get a feel for what the other guy is feeling and not just saying. Xi sounds absolutely not bothered and laboured. This was an unwelcome choir for him and he didn’t even try to hide it. His tone also laid clear the tiny amount of patients he has left for the US. In effect, Xi got Blinken to come all the way to see for himself that China has zero fucks left to give for more American cuntfuckery. This was about sending a message, to the US, and to the rest of the world.
To the US, China is saying, this is your last chance, don’t fuck it up.
To the rest of the world and China’s own populous, Xi is showing that he is the responsible adult here, that he has given the US chance after chance even when the US does not deserve them. But make no mistake, such moves are as much about war prep as building ships and planes. To win such a war, the Chinese population needs to be 100% on board, as they will need to make massive collective and personal sacrifices. This is why the people must see that China is doing everything in its power to try and avert this war, and the people must want this war more than the government, that they must recognise that there is no other acceptable choice and be prepared to endure hardship and make sacrifices for as long as it takes to win. This is part of China creating the conditions for winning the war before the first shot is even fired.