Editor's note: With a weakened mandate, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's China visit was met with low expectations. Few expected major breakthroughs to happen. What would be considered a "success" from his two-day trip? This episode of Reality Check provides an answer.

Hey guys, welcome to Reality Check. I'm Huang Jiyuan. The U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has concluded his two-day visit to China. He met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, senior diplomat Wang Yi and Foreign Minister Qin Gang. 

President Xi told Blinken that China respects America's interests and does not seek to challenge or displace the U.S. And in the same vein, America needs to respect China and must not hurt China's legitimate rights and interests. Xi said: "Major-country competition does not represent the trend of the times, still less can it solve America's own problems or the challenges facing the world."

During Blinken's meeting with Qin, the two sides agreed to keep moving forward consultations on the guiding principles of China-U.S. relations. Blinken invited Qin to visit America, and Qin expressed his readiness to make the visit at a mutually convenient time.

All in all, standard, quite routinized, diplomatic meetings. But to be frank, few people expected major breakthroughs.

The trip was long in the making. It was rumored earlier in the year. Chinese and U.S. officials discussed it. Then, it was disrupted by a balloon, followed by an intense period of diplomatic conflict between the two countries. So, it was met with a lot of buzz, and a lot of discussion, but very little expectation.

We should know that Blinken's mandate has been weakened significantly since earlier. Over the past months, the U.S. has continued to slap sanctions on Chinese companies. It pushed Japan and the Netherlands to curb tech export to China, got the G7 to "counter" China's "economic coercion," and signed a trade deal with China's Taiwan region. Yet throughout this process, the Biden administration has insisted that it wants a better China-U.S. relationship.

Words don't match deeds. What should we believe?

Josef Gregory Mahoney, Professor of political and international relations at East China Normal University said in an interview that "I'm concerned that these meetings serve the American narrative that it's 'managing the relationship,' which is meant to reassure and reassert a type of paternalism in global discourse, while also using these engagements as opportunities to showcase either its power, or more dangerously, to portray itself either as a victim or the hero who's going to protect others from a rising China."

And American politicians aren't helping the situation. Before the trip, Congressional Republicans accused Blinken of "undermining national security by attempting to normalize diplomatic relations with Beijing." One high-level Republican representative said, "The Biden administration's weak actions on the global stage continue to embolden the CCP."

You have to admit, under these circumstances – the distrust and the aggressiveness – even clearing the air is hard. So Blinken's trip is not about progress, but about stopping the bleeding. 

Joseph Gerson, President of Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security, said that "One of the challenges here in the United States, overall, in relationship to the U.S.-China relationship, is to help Americans understand that even as we have differences, that it's important that both sides treat one another with the respect that they deserve."

Manuel Menedez, Founder and CEO of MCM Group Holdings, compares it to negotiating a business deal. "I think you have to start off with the principle of mutual respect. And then, really, the hard part is getting to a mutual understanding. If you can get through being aligned with a mutual understanding, you can have mutual benefit," he said.

There are people in the U.S. who understand this. Before Blinken's visit, China welcomed many American business leaders to visit. Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and other heavyweights were met with more enthusiasm and optimism. Because right now, American business understands "mutual interest" better than American politicians.

President Xi told Blinken that America should adopt a rational and pragmatic attitude. One would hope that, after Blinken's trip, American politicians could see the same and change how they act. If so, the low-expectation meeting would be considered a great success.

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