Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with low-level Chinese Communist Party officials, students, and businessmen in Shanghai on Thursday, promoting an “expansion of exchanges” with the rogue state in several fields.

The most prominent of his meetings was with the head of the Communist Party in Shanghai, Secretary Chen Jining, who said in a press engagement prior to their meeting that he was pleased to hear that Blinken had attended a basketball game and visited Shanghai’s Yu Garden after landing on Wednesday:

“I think it’s important to underscore the value – in fact, the necessity – of direct engagement, of sustained engagement, of speaking to each other, laying out our differences which are real, seeking to work through them, as also looking for ways to build cooperation where we can,” Blinken emphasized prior to his meeting with Chen.

Blinken is on a three-day trip to China, which began with a lackluster welcome in Shanghai on Wednesday, in which the Chinese government did not bother to roll out a red carpet or send any senior officials. Blinken landed in Beijing later on Thursday for meetings with unspecified high-ranking officials:

The State Department announcement of his travels prior to his departure said that Blinken was hoping to discuss fair trade practices with Chinese officials, as well as issues unrelated to U.S.-China ties that President Joe Biden has made a centerpiece of his foreign policy, such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In a video apparently filmed in Shanghai, Blinken promised that he would emphasize China’s outsized role in facilitating the manufacture and trafficking of fentanyl to the United States, killing an estimated 150 people a day in America alongside other synthetic opioids, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

Blinken claimed he traveled to China “to work on issues that matter to the American people.”

“One of those is fentanyl, synthetic opioids, the leading killer of Americans between the ages of 18 and 49,” Blinken continued. “President Biden, President Xi, when they met in San Francisco at the end of last year, agreed to cooperate to help prevent fentanyl and the ingredients that make it from getting to the United States.”

“Face-to-face diplomacy matters,” Blinken insisted.

The Chinese state propaganda outlet Xinhua noted that pro-communist alleged social media users flooded the video with statements praising the backdrop of Shanghai and condemning allegedly inferior American cities.

The State Department’s readout of Blinken’s meeting with Chen, the Shanghai Party secretary, on Thursday did not mention fentanyl. Instead, it claimed that Blinken “raised concerns about PRC [People’s Republic of China] trade policies and non-market economic practices and stressed that the United States seeks a healthy economic competition.” Ultimately, however, Blinken and Chen both reportedly agreed that it was important to facilitate “expansion of exchanges between students, scholars, and business.”

In addition to the meeting with Chen, Blinken posted photos to social media of meetings he held with “U.S. business leaders” promoting trade ties with China, demanding “competition” with China “must be fair”:

The Chinese Communist Party, which controls the Chinese economy in its entirety, regularly sabotages American businesses with intellectual property theft and flooding the market with steeply discounted products made by slaves. China also poses a significant national security threat though espionage, alliances with American enemies, and flagrant violations of sovereignty, such as running illegal police stations throughout America.

Blinken’s friendly disposition in Shanghai was not enough for the Chinese government, which rejected even the most vague suggestions that China is actively undermining fair trade.

“China carries out trade and economic cooperation in accordance with market principles, firmly supports the multilateral trade regime and fully abides by WTO [World Trade Organization] rules,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Thursday, answering a question about Biden’s visit. “We hope the US will respect the principle of fair competition, observe WTO rules too, and work with China to create enabling conditions for the sound and steady growth of China-US economic and trade relations.”

Prior to Blinken’s arrival, the Foreign Ministry listed as its goals for the visit forcing Washington to accept the “right perception” of the communist regime, improving dialogue, “effectively managing differences, promoting mutually beneficial cooperation and jointly shouldering responsibilities as major countries.”

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