China and the US have agreed to expand the number of flights in an effort to expand trade relations between both countries. Although China has abolished most of its zero-covid measures since March, the number of weekly flights between both countries was stuck at 24, reports Reuters on June 28. Before Corona, that number was up to 350 per week.
Reuters:
[The top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, Daniel Kritenbrink,] said on Wednesday. the agreement was reached during Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to China earlier this month. During the trip, Washington and Beijing failed to produce any major breakthrough in their rivalry but agreed to stabilize relations. Soon after Blinken’s trip, U.S. President Joe Biden referred to Chinese President Xi Jinping as a dictator.
After the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the two countries restricted flights and travel to prevent the spread of the disease, and air service has not been fully restored.
Kritenbrink said he wanted to see an imbalance reversed in the number of Chinese students in the United States and American students in China, which he put at 300,000 Chinese students to 350 U.S. students.
The article did not mention a timeline or planned numbers.
