since president biden took office. 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. stephen, its been a tense few months for both sides the white house says expecations are low. 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 more high level us representatives can come to china, more high level chinese representatives can go to the us and, you know, we re talking about serious matters. 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 would have
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
of the highest profile visit to china by a us official since president biden took office. 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. joining me now to discuss the trip is jacob stokes, senior fellow for the indo pacific security program at the centerfor a new american security and former acting special advisorfor asia policy to then vice presidentjoe biden. thank you so much for being with us on bbc news. how crucial do you think these talks are? i crucial do you think these talks are? crucial do you think these talks are? i think this is an important talks are? i think this is an important trip. talks are? i think this is an important trip. as - talks are? i think this is an important trip. as you - talks are? i think this is an | important trip. as you said, the secretary of state from the united states has not be
effect for parts of indiana and ohio as severe storms moved across the west. you can see what appears to be a funnel cloud in the distance there. hours earlier, the same storm system unleashed at least nine tornadoes across oklahoma and kansas. at least seven tornados hit oklahoma alone. this is just outside of oklahoma city. officials say at least 12 people have been injured and the national weather service says preliminary data indicates the tornado that hit this area was at least ef-2. more than 200,000 homes and businesses still without power across several states. listen here as one woman describes the moment the tornado hit. before i could even blink, i could hear the wind. all the back windows where the kids bedrooms are, i could hear them crashing, busting out. i got up and then the wind just threw me back. and i m screaming. it was like a blizzard inside the house with all the debris flying. i was screaming for my kids. you know, because they were in their bedroo