Blinken heads to China this weekend on mission to salvage sinking ties and keep communications open

News Snapshot:

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to China this weekend as part of the Biden administration’s push to repair deteriorating ties between Washington and Beijing and keep lines of communication open, the State Department said Wednesday. Blinken will be the most senior U.S. official to visit China since President Joe Biden took office. His visit had initially been planned for earlier this year but was postponed indefinitely after the discovery and shootdown of what the U.S. said was a Chinese spy balloon over the United States. Since then, however, there have been lower-level engagements between...