met with chinese counterparts, and us officials say expectations for the meeting are low. tensions have been steadily growing between the countries. earlier i spoke with the bbc s china correspondent stephen mcdonnell. stephen, its been a very tense few months between both sides, i think it is fair to say and the white house has now been saying that expectations are low for this particular trip, so what is this visit all about? well, the goal of the meeting is the meeting itself or rather meetings, i should say, because they do not expect some huge breakthrough as a result of antony blinken coming to beijing butjust starting to talk again, possibly lining up future meetings so that more high level us representatives can come to china, more chinese high level representatives can go to the us and, you know, we are talking about serious matters. i mean, at stake is trying to avoid war, for example. it is quite an incredible situation when you think about it. a few years ago it w
it s been five years since a secretary of state has met with chinese counterparts, and us officials say expectations for the meeting are low. tensions have been steadily growing between the countries. live now to the bbc s china correspondent, stephen mcdonnell, in beijing. we just saw antony blinken touching down a little earlier. what will be on his agenda? the first thing he what will be on his agenda? tue: first thing he will what will be on his agenda? tte: first thing he will be doing, the first serious thing is meeting his chinese counterpart, chinese foreign minister qin gang. tomorrow he will meet huang yi and he is actually above qin gang, the communist party is official and he may even meet president xi jinping and if he met the leader, that would be very symbolic and sent a message out in china for sure that beijing is taking it seriously and the idea of reaching out to washington and washington is also taking it seriously to reach to china. nobody is expecting
hello to you from buckingham palace. the sun was out a little earlier but the clouds have come in and the wind has picked up, but today is still looking like it should be a very special day in the royal calendar. in the next few hours, the princess of wales will make her first public appearance since she was diagnosed with cancer at today s trooping the colour. i don t if we can see some live pictures, but the crowds are starting to build up. they arejust out of shot. some anti monarchy protesters are here, so they have been some shouts of not my king . but other shouts of the national anthem. quite an atmosphere building up anthem. quite an atmosphere building up here at buckingham palace. later this morning the princess of wales will be in the carriage parade with her children, prince george, princess charlotte, and louis. this is for the birthday celebrations for the king, and then they will make their way to horse guards along with their way to horse guards along with t
trooping the colour parade to mark the king s official birthday. it s the first royal engagement she has carried out this year. the king, who is also receiving cancer treatment, travelled with the queen in a carriage, instead of riding on horseback as he has done in the past. charlotte gallagher reports. the princess of wales back in the public eye. riding in a carriage with her three children at the king s birthday parade. all eyes on her for her first appearance since her cancer diagnosis was announced. she was a huge draw for the crowds in central london today. this is a day full of tradition and spectacle, but it s also about family. the king and queen in their carriage. it s his first trooping the colour since his own cancer diagnosis, and he chose not to travel on horseback. the troops taking part have been rehearsing for months. every step, drumbeat and musical note has to be perfect. the irish guards are leading the event this year and their colour, or regimentalflag,