Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken is scheduled to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday in an attempt to maintain a tense relationship despite disputes over the economy, national security and geopolitical frictions in East Asia, the Middle -East and Middle East. Ukraine.
China and the United States have said they hope for progress on a few smaller, pragmatic fronts, including improving communications between their militaries and easing travel between the two countries. But they remain stalled on fundamental strategic issues, including trade policies and territorial disputes in the South China Sea and over Taiwan. Both sides recognize the danger of their relations degenerating into more conflict.
The Biden administration is deeply concerned that cheap Chinese exports threaten American jobs and is concerned about China’s support for Russia in the war in Ukraine. And China has accused the United States of seeking to encircle Chinese interests in the Pacific.
Earlier in the day, Blinken spent more than five hours with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in meetings and a working lunch at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing.
In his remarks, Mr. Wang struck a somewhat more conciliatory tone than in the past, telling Mr. Blinken that “China-US relations are beginning to stabilize” and that their future would depend on the decisions of both countries. During Mr. Blinken’s visit last year, Mr. Wang laid the blame for the deterioration of ties with the United States, which, according to him, must “reflect on themselves”.
But Mr Wang also warned on Friday that negative factors in relations continued to “increase and strengthen”.
“The relationship is facing all kinds of disruptions,” Mr. Wang said on Friday. “China’s legitimate development rights have been unreasonably suppressed, and our core interests are facing challenges. »
“I hope that we can make progress on the issues that our presidents have agreed that we should cooperate on, but also clarify our differences, our intentions and make it very clear to us where we stand,” Blinken responded.
Among other goals, U.S. officials want China to make progress in stemming the flow of chemicals used to make fentanyl to the United States and to strengthen communication between the respective countries’ militaries to try to avoid falling into the war. Chinese officials said they would encourage more cultural exchanges between the countries and pressure the United States to end interrogations of Chinese students at the border.
In recent weeks, U.S. officials have begun to more urgently express concerns about China’s economic aid to Russia. China has denied supplying weapons for the Russian war effort, which Washington says would constitute a red line, but U.S. officials say it continues to boost Russia’s defense industry by selling components that could be used for civil or military purposes.
