Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday in Beijing, as the two governments sought to pull relations out of a deep freeze that has raised global concerns about increasing risk of conflict between them.
The 35-minute meeting sent a signal, at least for now, that the United States and China do not want their relationship to be shaped by overt hostility, and that they recognize that their rivalry and diplomatic efforts are of great benefit.
Mr. Blinken and Mr. Xi held talks at the Great Hall of the People, the large building on the west side of Tiananmen Square, where Xi often receives state leaders. In a footnote at the beginning of the meeting, Mr. Xi praised the two sides for making progress on a number of issues during Mr. Blinken’s visit, saying: “This is very good..”
Blinken told Xi that the US government is committed to responsibly managing its relations with China, according to a State Department statement. “It is in the interest of the United States, in the interest of China, and in the interest of the world,” he said.
Both Mr. Xi and President Biden are under increasing pressure from other world leaders to tone down their countries’ increasingly controversial stances towards each other. Any armed conflict between the United States and China, whether over Taiwan, the de facto independent island that Beijing claims as its territory, or another dispute, is considered a potentially catastrophic. The United States and China are the world’s two largest economies, nuclear powers and dominant players in advanced technologies and other key industries.
Officials in Washington and Beijing are increasingly talking about the need to prevent a rapid deterioration in relations. But even as they engage in high-level diplomacy aimed at reducing tensions, the two governments find it necessary to demonstrate that they are not compromising on core issues.
In his opening remarks to his meeting with Blinken, Xi hinted at China’s grievances, saying: “State-state interactions should always be based on mutual respect and sincerity. . I hope that through this visit, Mr. Foreign Minister, you will make more positive contributions to stabilizing Sino-US relations.”
During the two-day meeting, the diplomats did not express any hope of sudden or dramatic breakthroughs in mending the relationship. Instead, they are focused on trying to rebuild communication channels that have collapsed in recent months and push through negotiations on smaller issues, such as visas and commercial flights. trade between the two countries.
Blinken held talks Monday morning with Wang Yi, China’s top foreign policy official, who took a hard line when he blamed Washington for recent tensions.
Wang said the United States should cooperate with Beijing instead of “inflating” the “Chinese threat theory,” according to an official Chinese article. He said Washington must lift sanctions on China and stop blocking its technological development. He accused the US of “recklessly interfering in China’s internal affairs” on issues like Taiwan, which the US weapons supply.
The State Department described Mr. Blinken’s meeting with Mr. Wang as “frank and productive”, saying Mr Blinken emphasized that the two powers must manage their rivalry responsibly and communicate better. to “ensure competition does not lead to conflict”. It also said the two officials discussed how their countries could cooperate on “shared transnational challenges”. US officials say those challenges include climate change, global economic instability and controlling production of fentanyl, the deadly opioid.
Mr. Blinken, who also met Qin Gang, China’s foreign minister, on Sunday, is the first US secretary of state to visit Beijing since 2018. His mission is ongoing as bilateral ties have plummeted in more than half a decade. lowest point in decades. Tensions heightened in February when the Pentagon announced that a Chinese surveillance balloon was drifting over the continental United States — prompting Blinken to cancel his upcoming trip to Beijing — and then ordered the American fighters shot it down.
Relations were further strained in late February when Blinken confronted Wang on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference to tell him that Washington believed China was considering lethal assistance to Russia in the war in Ukraine. . China responded by freezing some important diplomatic exchanges and ramping up anti-American rhetoric.
Republican politicians have tried to portray the Biden administration as soft on China, even though Mr. Biden and his aides have enacted tough trade policies like export controls in an attempt to limit China’s development in strategic areas, especially semiconductors, and strengthen military cooperation with countries across Asia. Some Republican lawmakers even criticized Mr. Blinken for making the trip to China, saying it was a concession to Beijing. Harsh language about China among US politicians is expected to intensify next year, when Mr. Biden runs for re-election.
U.S. officials say maintaining regular high-level dialogue is important so that the two governments can quickly talk to each other in any crisis that may arise, especially when militaries. their coming into closer contact with each other at sea and in the air around them. China and other parts of Asia.
Wu Xinbo, dean of the department of international studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, said that Mr Biden’s recent remarks downplaying the severity of the ballooning incident may have helped pave the way for Mr. Mr. Blinken. “I think China feels that the United States is now taking a constructive stance,” he said.
Officials on both sides have said that Mr. Blinken’s meetings will lead to a series of early visits to the Chinese capital by other senior US officials, including Janet Yellen, the finance secretary, Gina Raimondo, commerce secretary, and John Kerry, special envoy. presidential special envoy on climate issues.
State Department officials said that during Blinken’s visit, the two governments agreed to soon have working groups and diplomats meet on a range of issues, including increased access to each water for journalists, scholars and students. Officials also said the two sides had agreed to expand direct commercial flights between the two countries.
Blinken’s visit could avert the current deterioration in relations, although analysts say it will take much longer for the two sides to overcome the distrust that is weighing on the relationship.
The hope is that the Beijing talks will prompt the two governments to “form a principled framework for the management of US-China relations, to limit competition to acceptable limits and create more space for concerted efforts where US and Chinese interests overlap,” he said. Jessica Chen Weiss, a political scientist at Cornell University who recently advised the State Department on China policy.
China has rejected efforts by the Biden administration to set up so-called protective barriers to prevent potential accidents in disputed areas like the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea from spiraling out of control. . Analysts say that some Chinese officials see any perception by Americans that the Chinese government and its military can be unpredictable as a useful deterrent. It is thought that this perception may lead US officials to reconsider their military activities in the waters and airspace around China.
In the days and weeks leading up to Blinken’s visit, China repeatedly criticized the United States for its lack of “sincerity” in calling for communication while continuing to trample on China’s interests. China said that in order to resume high-level talks, the United States needs to respect Beijing’s position.
However, Xi’s decision to meet Blinken shows that China is also uncomfortable with the escalation of tensions.
“Despite China’s efforts to make it appear that the US side is more eager for the visit, the Chinese side also considers Blinken’s visit to be of considerable importance and brings more stability to relations. US-China,” said Paul Haenle, director of China on the National Security Council under the Bush and Obama administrations.
Pressure may be growing on Beijing to stabilize relations because of China’s deteriorating economy. Mr. Xi may also want to stabilize the relationship because he is eager to turn yourself into a global statesman. And he and Mr. Biden could meet face-to-face in San Francisco in November if he chooses to attend a summit of leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation nations.
“China has spent the past several months blaming the United States for everything that went wrong in the relationship and more broadly within China. Now, Chinese leaders need to create the political space to move towards more direct communication,” said Ryan Hass, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who served as director of China at the Security Council. Country under President Obama, said.
“Beijing considers it in its interest to have direct communication to manage tensions in the relationship and builds a favorable opportunity for President Xi to meet President Biden in the fall,” he added.
Olivia Wang contribution report.
