US Secretary of State Blinken arrives in China

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned Wednesday to China on his second visit in a year.

The US diplomat will meet China's top brass on Friday in Beijing to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices, a vital issue for President Joe Biden in an election year. He was the highest-ranking US official to visit China in five years, and the trip was followed by a meeting between the countries' presidents in November.

At that summit in California, Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to a US wish list including restoring contact between militaries and cracking down on precursor chemicals to fentanyl, the powerful painkiller behind an addiction epidemic in the United States.