Last week, it was reported that Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, the State Department’s point man on China, and his National Security Council counterpart Jeffrey Bader headed to China on a low profile mission to repair frayed ties. Steinberg had planned to go to China in February, but the Chinese cancelled his trip as part of the blowback over proposed arms sales to Taiwan and President Obama’s meeting with the Dalai Lama.
While the White House and State Department have said little about the trip, the Chinese state-controlled media and Chinese foreign ministry have been veritable fonts of information. The Chinese MFA was asked about the trip at its daily press conference, and made the following bellicose comments about the visit:
