Top U.S.-China officials to hold first in-person meeting under Biden administration

Details: Blinken and Sullivan will meet on March 18 in Anchorage with their two Chinese counterparts — director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs Yang Jiechi and state councilor Wang Yi. The officials will engage on a "range of issues," including ones in which they have "deep disagreements," Blinken tweeted on Wednesday.

• Biden will also be meeting virtually on Friday with leaders of Australia, Japan and India — an alliance known as the Quad that seeks to curb China's growing influence in the Indo-Pacific.
• Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are also planning to visit Japan and South Korea next week.

Our thought bubble, via Axios China expert Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian: Yang Jiechi and Wang Yi undoubtedly hope to win a detente, after four years of growing confrontation under former President Trump.

• Biden has so far upheld most of the Trump era's tough China measures in a sort of holding pattern, as the administration conducts a comprehensive review of America's China policy.
• China's leaders see the current moment as a window of opportunity to persuade a new administration that the U.S. has much to gain from supporting Beijing's global goals — and much to lose if the U.S. tries to thwart them.