Antony Blinken, the Secretary of State of the United States, held talks with China’s President Xi Jinping on Friday in an effort to improve the strained relationship between the two nations, as reported by the New York Times. This comes amid disagreements spanning the economy, national security, and geopolitical tensions.
Following a lengthy over five-hour discussion with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing, Antony Blinken, the top US diplomat, proceeded to meet with China’s Minister of Security Wang Xiaohong, who holds the position of the country’s police chief. This series of meetings culminated in Blinken’s encounter with China’s President Xi Jinping, aiming to address various contentious issues between the two nations.
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson in a post on X, said, “President Xi noted that he proposed mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation to be the three overarching principles. They are both lessons learned from the past and a guide for the future.”
“It is the shared desire of both the two peoples and the international community to see China and the US strengthen dialogue, manage differences and advance cooperation. The planet is big enough to accommodate the common development and respective prosperity of China and the US. China is happy to see a confident, open, prosperous, and thriving US. We hope the US can also look at China’s development in a positive light”.
He further said, “Over the past 45 years, the China-US relationship has gone through winds and rains, and it has a number of important inspirations to offer: China and the US should be partners rather than rivals; help each other succeed rather than hurt each other; seek common ground and reserve differences, rather than engage in vicious competition; and honor words with actions, rather than say one thing but do the opposite.”
Blinken took to his social media handle X to post about the “in-depth and substantive meeting” today with Wang Yi. “As part of our effort to responsibly manage competition, we discussed areas of difference, in addition to areas of shared interest — like counternarcotics — where we can build on progress to deliver benefits for both our peoples,”Blinken said.
I had an in-depth and substantive meeting today with People’s Republic of China Director Wang Yi. As part of our effort to responsibly manage competition, we discussed areas of difference, in addition to areas of shared interest — like counternarcotics — where we can build on… pic.twitter.com/uGkTh6FPqz
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) April 26, 2024
Wang adopted a somewhat more conciliatory stance than before, informing the top US diplomat that “the China-U.S. relationship is beginning to stabilize.” However, he also cautioned that negative factors within the relationship were still “increasing and building,” according to the NYT report.
“I hope that we can make some progress on the issues that our presidents agreed we should cooperation on, but also clarify our differences, our intent, and make very clear to each other where we stand,” Blinken responded according to the US publication.
Both China and the United States have expressed hopes for progress on several smaller, pragmatic fronts, such as enhancing communication between their militaries and facilitating travel between the two countries, as reported by the NYT.
According to a report by Kyodo, a US official stated that during the meeting between Blinken and his Chinese counterpart, the US Secretary raised concerns about China’s purported support for Russia’s defense industry amid its invasion of Ukraine. Additionally, Blinken emphasized the significance of upholding peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, particularly in anticipation of the inauguration of Taiwan’s next leader, Lai Ching-te, on May 20.
“China’s legitimate development rights have been unreasonably suppressed and our core interests are facing challenges,” China’s top diplomat expressed at the outset of the talks, Kyodo reported.
Wang urged the United States “not to interfere in China’s internal affairs, not to hold China’s development back, and not to step on China’s red lines” concerning what he said was his country’s sovereignty, security, and development interests, as reported.
“Should China and the United States keep to the right direction of moving forward with stability or return to a downward spiral? This is a major question before our two countries, and tests our sincerity and ability,” Wang told Blinken during their meeting after saying US-China ties were “beginning to stabilize,” according to CNN.
Earlier on April 24, Blinken, who is on his second visit to China this year, stated that he was in China “to make progress on issues that matter most to the American people, including curbing fentanyl trafficking.”
He stated that the two sides would discuss the progress made in fulfilling commitments made by US President Joe Biden and Xi Jinping in November 2023, as well as “the areas where we have significant disagreements,” as reported.
The US State Department, prior to Blinken’s departure for China, stated that during his April 24-26 visit, Blinken would meet with senior Chinese officials in Shanghai and Beijing to discuss a range of bilateral, regional, and global issues, including the crisis in the Middle East, Russia’s war against Ukraine, cross-Strait issues, and the South China Sea, as reported.
“Blinken will also discuss ongoing work to fulfill the commitments made by Presidents Biden and Xi at the Woodside Summit in November on resuming counternarcotics cooperation, military-to-military communication, artificial intelligence, and strengthening people-to-people ties, and will reiterate the importance of the United States and the PRC responsibly managing competition, even in areas where our two countries disagree,” it said.
Blinken’s visit follows a visit to China by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen earlier this month, according to the same source.