Beijing – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and senior Chinese officials on Friday, warning him of the dangers of misunderstandings and miscalculations as the United States and the United States. china they faced a number of controversial bilateral, regional and global issues. Blinken met Xi in Beijing after holding talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Public Security Minister Wang Xiaohong.
Talks between the two sides have increased in recent months, even as differences have grown.
“We are committed to maintaining and strengthening the lines of communication between us” so that the two sides can avoid any “miscommunication, misperception and miscalculation,” Blinken said.
Mark Schiefelbein/Pool/REUTERS
Earlier, Blinken and Wang also stressed the importance of keeping the lines of communication open as they lamented the persistent and deepening divisions that threaten global security. Those divisions were highlighted earlier this week when President Biden signed a massive foreign aid bill that contains several elements that the Chinese find problematic.
His comments hinted at a long list of differences to be discussed, including Taiwan and the South China Sea, commerce i human rightsfrom China support for Russia and production i export of synthetic opioid precursors.
“Overall, the China-US relationship is starting to stabilize,” Wang told Blinken at the start of about 5.5 hours of talks. “But at the same time, the negative factors in the relationship continue to increase and grow and the relationship faces all kinds of disruptions.”
“Should China and the United States follow the right direction to move forward with stability or return to a downward spiral?” he asked. “This is an important question before our two countries and it tests our sincerity and ability.”
“China's legitimate development rights have been unreasonably suppressed and our core interests are facing challenges,” he said. “China's concerns are consistent. We have always called for respect for each other's core interests and urge the United States not to interfere in China's internal affairs, not to slow down China's development and not to step on red lines of China on China's sovereignty and security, and development interests.”
Blinken responded by saying the Biden administration values dialogue between the United States and China, even on contentious issues. He noted that there had been some progress in the past year, but suggested that talks would remain difficult.
“I hope these discussions will be very clear, very direct about the areas where we have differences and where the United States stands, and I have no doubt that you will do the same on behalf of China,” Blinken told Wang.
“There is no substitute in our judgment for face-to-face diplomacy to try to move forward, but also to make sure that we are as clear as possible about the areas where we have differences, at least to avoid misunderstandings. to avoid mistakes of calculation,” he said.
The State Department later said that Blinken and Wang had “deep, substantive and constructive discussions about areas of difference and areas of cooperation” and made clear that Blinken had remained on US concerns.
Blinken “emphasized that the US will continue to defend our interests and values and those of our allies and partners, including on economic and human rights issues,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement .
Blinken arrived in China on Wednesday, visiting Shanghai shortly before Mr. Biden signed the $95 billion foreign aid package this has several elements likely to anger Beijing, including $8 billion to counter China's growing aggression toward Taiwan and the South China Sea. It also aims force TikTok's China-based parent company to sell the social networking platform.
China and the United States are the main players in the Indo-Pacific. Washington has grown increasingly alarmed by Beijing's growing aggressiveness in recent years toward Taiwan and its small Southeast Asian neighbors with whom it has major territorial and maritime disputes in the South China Sea.
China has criticized US aid to Taiwan and immediately condemned the aid as a dangerous provocation. He also strongly opposes efforts to force the sale of TikTok.
The bill also allocates $61 billion to Ukraine to defend against Russian invasion. The Biden administration has complained loudly that Chinese support for Russia's military-industrial sector has allowed Moscow to subvert Western sanctions and escalate attacks on Ukraine.
US officials have said China's ties to Russia would be a major topic of conversation during Blinken's visit, and just before the meetings began on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he would visit China in May.
