U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman held talks in Tianjin with Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Xie Feng and also met with State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The Ministers of both countries laid their grievances on the table without achieving any breakthroughs but agreed on the need to keep talking, the South China Morning Post reports. Both sides kept to their positions on issues including Covid-19 origins tracing, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the South China Sea and human rights. China handed over two lists of grievances and red line issues, demanding that the U.S. take actions to improve relations. The Chinese government said the talks were “candid and useful” but arrangements for a future meeting between the Ministers of Foreign Affairs or the Presidents of the two countries were not discussed. Sherman said the U.S. favored “stiff competition” with China, but did “not seek conflict”. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi “advised the U.S. that it must abide by its promises on the Taiwan issue and must be prudent in its conduct as China “reserved the right to use any means necessary” to prevent Taiwan independence. The Tianjin talks were the first high-level meeting between officials of the two countries since a meeting in Alaska in March.
Xie began the Tianjin talks by going on the offensive, handing over the two lists to the U.S. representative. Items on the remedial list include lifting visa restrictions on Communist Party members, their families, and Chinese students; lifting sanctions imposed on Chinese leaders, government officials and agencies; and removing restrictions on Confucius Institutes and Chinese companies. China also wants to end the requirement that Chinese journalists register as foreign agents in the U.S., and cancellation of a request to extradite Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou from Canada. Items on the list of concerns include addressing unfair treatment of Chinese citizens in the U.S., harassment of the Chinese Embassy and Consulates, the rise of anti-Asian and anti-Chinese sentiment, and violence against Chinese citizens. “The U.S. side has sought China's cooperation and support on climate change, and the Iran and North Korea nuclear issues,' Xie said, but he added that mutual trust and a good atmosphere in bilateral relations were a requirement for cooperation. “The U.S. cannot expect cooperation on one hand and to hurt China's interests on the other. This won't work,” Vice Minister Xie said, as reported by the South China Morning Post.
The Global Times further clarified China's three bottom lines: the U.S. should not challenge, smear or seek to subvert the Chinese path and system, should not seek to interrupt or disrupt China's development, and should not violate China's national sovereignty or territorial integrity. The two lists that China presented to the U.S. side are the “List of U.S. Wrongdoings that Must Stop” and the “List of Key Individual Cases that China Has Concerns with”. “The lists sent two messages,” said Wu Xinbo, Director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai: China is now more proactive in handling relations with the U.S. and China underscored its goodwill in improving relations. But only following concrete U.S. government moves to solve the outstanding issues can China-U.S. relations improve, the Global Times concludes.
