Blinken off to Europe amid soaring tensions with China

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken leaves Washington this week for meetings in Germany, Turkey and Greece. Blinken’s Thursday trip comes amid tensions with China, fears of a new Russian offensive against Ukraine and a stalemate with Turkey over NATO expansion. Blinken will start his six-day trip at the Munich Security Conference, where he’ll join Vice President Kamala Harris in representing the U.S. Speculation is high that Blinken might use the conference to meet top Chinese foreign policy official Wang Yi who will also be attending. No such meeting is scheduled but it would be the first high-level discussion with China since Blinken postponed a trip to China over its suspected spy balloon.