U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in Beijing with President Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. President Xi urged the United States to look at China’s development positively and refrain from creating small blocs to instigate confrontation. He said that the planet is big enough to accommodate the common development and prosperity of China and the U.S. “China is happy to see a confident, open, prosperous and thriving United States. We hope the U.S. can also look at China’s development in a positive light. This is a fundamental issue that must be addressed, just like the first button of a shirt that must be put right, in order for the China-U.S. relationship to truly stabilize, improve and move forward,” Xi said. The Chinese President also called on the United States to be a partner of China and not “say one thing and do another”, the China Daily reports.
China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, has warned the U.S. that the recent improvements in the two countries’ relations were being jeopardized by “disruptions” which could take them back to a “downward spiral” leading to rivalry, confrontation and even conflict. Wang was speaking at the start of a meeting in Beijing with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The U.S. is threatening sanctions against Chinese companies for supplying the Russian defense industry, and is considering tariffs in the face of what Washington says is Chinese manufacturing overcapacity. The Biden Administration has also tightened export controls on advanced computer chips. While Blinken was on the way to China, Congress passed legislation that would ban the social media platform TikTok within a year in the U.S. if its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, does not sell its stake – as well as provide billions of dollars in aid for the Indo-Pacific that would largely benefit Taiwan.
At the start of a meeting between the U.S. and Chinese delegations at the Diaoyutai state guest house in Beijing, Wang suggested the bilateral relationship was at a turning point. Since the Biden-Xi summit in San Francisco in November, he said it was “beginning to stabilize” with increased dialogue and cooperation. “This is welcomed by our two peoples and the international community,” Wang said, “but at the same time, the negative factors in the relationship are still increasing and building up and the relationship is facing all kinds of disruptions. China’s legitimate development rights have been unreasonably suppressed and our core interests are facing challenges,” he added.
To keep moving forward with stability or return to a downward spiral is a major question before our two countries, which tests our sincerity and ability, Foreign Minister Wang added. “Should our two sides lead international cooperation on global issues and achieve win-win for all, or engage in rivalry and confrontation or even slide into conflict, which would be a lose-lose for all? The international community is waiting for our answer.” Blinken said it was“important to demonstrate that we’re managing responsibly the most consequential relationship for both of us in the world”, the Guardian reports.
