In the clearest sign yet that president Joe Biden’s predicted “thaw” in US-China relations may actually come to pass, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is expected to visit Beijing on 18 June. But after several months in which tensions between the two countries have only increased, both sides will need to overcome a mutual mistrust that has been allowed to build following a number of recent incidents. Biden made his comments predicting a thaw at the G7 summit in Japan in May, just as the group of countries published a strongly worded statement rebuking China’s behaviour on a...