China relations improving now
Asat 7/28 [Rayhan Asat is a nonresident senior fellow with the Strategic Litigation Project at the Atlantic Council. As an international human rights lawyer, she focuses on international human rights, atrocity prevention, the rule of law, civil liberties, corporate accountability, and international law. A graduate of Harvard Law School and former anti-corruption attorney at a major U.S. law firm, Rayhan has worked on high-profile corruption cases. Rayhan specializes in international human rights law, anti-corruption, and compliance with best business practices. Her legal and policy work centers around enforcing international human rights norms, fighting against corruption, advancing civil liberties, atrocity prevention, curtailing forced labor, and promoting corporate accountability. She previously advised the World Bank and OECD to design Human-Centered Business Integrity Principles, and now works with civil society, diplomats, and lawmakers to address various human rights concerns, particularly the atrocities in Xinjiang. Rayhan has testified before the Canadian House of Commons, The UK House of Commons, the Lithuanian Parliament and the US Congress at a joint hearing called by the China-Congressional Executive Commission and the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission concerning egregious human rights abuses. Western democracies and lawmakers, including the United States, have adopted her policy recommendations in their atrocity prevention and response strategy. 7/28/23, ‘Any possible US-China ‘thaw’ must not leave Uyghurs out in the cold’, https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/any-possible-us-china-thaw-must-not-leave-uyghurs-out-in-the-cold/, Atlantic Council]
“We believe that the world is big enough for both of our countries to thrive,” said US Treasury Secretary following a short trip to Beijing earlier this month. Her visit came just a few weeks after that of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who of fruitful discussions regarding key priorities in the US-China relationship. US Climate Envoy John Kerry was also recently in Beijing and raised the possibility of Chinese leader Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden meeting in later this year. In May, Biden spoke of a coming diplomatic “” with Beijing, and all signs now seem to indicate that the US-China relationship is stabilizing—perhaps even improving.
Such progress is welcomed by some China watchers, given the undeniable need for cooperation between the two nations to address such as climate change, drug trafficking, post-pandemic recovery, arms control, food security, and economic growth, even as some are wary of whether Beijing’s efforts on these issues are in good faith.