US-CHINA: Beijing Is Open To Raimondo China Visit

MNI London: Comments hitting wires from the Chinese Commerce Ministry stating that China is "open" to a visit from US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and is, "in communication with the US side," ... "pushing for constructive, pragmatic cooperation," with the US.

• Raimondo has been instrumental in crafting much of the Biden administration policy on semiconductor and tech export controls and is considered by many analysts to be the US official most central to stabilising the US-China commercial relationship.
• Wu Xinbo, at Fudan University, told the NYT after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's China trip last week that a Raimondo visit would be, "critical in showing whether the United States is ready to address China’s concerns."
• Raimondo met her counterpart, Wang Wentao, in Washington in May, the first cabinet-level meeting since the 'spy balloon' incident, with the Commerce Department reporting, "The two had candid and substantive discussions on issues relating to the U.S.-China commercial relationship."
• Beijing's willingness to expand cabinet-level talks suggests that the Yellen trip achieved its primary objective of reopening lines of communication and a Biden-Xi meeting at the November APEC Summit in San Francisco remains on the cards.