Mattis lands in China for first Pentagon chief visit since 2014

Bloomberg

Jim Mattis arrived on Tuesday in Beijing on the first China visit by a US defense secretary in four years, as the Trump administration moves to push back against the country’s growing economic and military influence.
Mattis, who plans to also visit South Korea and Japan, was expected to press China’s leaders for continued cooperation on North Korea’s nuclear programme, despite simmering tensions between the world’s two largest economies over everything from trade to Taiwan. Before departing for Asia, Mattis said he intended to “have a conversation.”
“I want to go in right now without basically poisoning the well at this point,” Mattis told reporters. “I want to go in and do a lot of listening.” The Associated Press said Mattis arrived on Tuesday.
The trip comes at a fraught diplomatic moment, as President Donald Trump prepares to enact tariffs and investment restrictions to curb what the White House says is China’s “economic aggression.” At the same time, security disputes have been accumulating between the two sides, with the Defense Department branding China a “strategic competitor” and rescinding the country’s participation in annual international military exercises that begin this week near Hawaii.
Still, Trump needs Chinese President Xi Jinping’s help to keep North Korea engaged with disarmament talks. Xi hosted Kim Jong-un in Beijing last week — the North Korean leader’s third China trip since March — in a demonstration of China’s enduring sway as the country’s top trading partner and wartime ally.
Ahead of Mattis’s visit, China’s state-run media said that dialogue was required to ensure that disputes don’t become flashpoints.
“Although it is natural for big countries such as China and the US to have areas of competition, the two should have the wisdom and the political will to control their rivalry, so that the worst-case scenario of a full-blown confrontation between them can be avoided,” China Daily said in an editorial.
Since Xi hosted Mattis’s predecessor, Chuck Hagel, in 2014, China has launched a second aircraft carrier and outlined plans to build a “world-class” military power by 2050. Mattis’s arrival is just one in a series of diplomatic visits since Trump held an unprecedented summit with Kim in Singapore.