On Sunday local time, U.S. Secretary of State Blinken said that the United States is trying to strengthen its “communication channels” with China, and is committed to ensuring that competition between the two countries will not evolve into conflict. He also said that the two countries now have different interfaces for consultations on multiple issues, and progress has been made in bringing bilateral relations back on track. In addition, Blinken also talked about the Russia-Ukraine conflict: Although Ukraine has regained half of the territory that Russia initially captured in the invasion, Kiev faces “a very uphill battle” to win back more territory. “It’s still early days for the counter-offensive, it’s…