WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser, will meet next week with two senior Chinese government officials, the Biden government’s first personal diplomatic meeting with its main foreign rival.
In a statement on Wednesday, a State Department spokesman said Mr. Blinken and mr. Sullivan will meet next Thursday in Anchorage with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his top diplomat, Yang Jiechi.
The meetings follow visits next week by Mr. Blinken and Secretary of Defense, Lloyd J. Austin III, to Japan and South Korea, two key allies in the U.S. who have hampered relations with China and who would be expected to consult before an alliance like the one planned with Beijing.
“It was important to us that the first meeting of the government with Chinese officials be held on American soil and that it take place after we met partners and allies in both Asia and Europe and now discussed it,” said Jen Psaki, press secretary of the Withuis, said.
The meeting in Anchorage will continue with a cautious scope between the two largest powers in the world, one in progress since the Biden government took office amid promises to continue the Trump administration’s firm stance toward Beijing. sit. Last week, a speech by Mr. Blinken, as well as a new document for national security strategy in the White House, identified China as the greatest threat to the nation state for the United States.
In his speech, Mr. Blinken said managing relations with China would be “the biggest geopolitical test of the 21st century” and called China the country “capable of seriously challenging the stable and open international system.”
Mr. Biden spoke to China’s leader Xi Jinping last month and warned that he intended to challenge China’s ‘coercive and unfair economic practices’, as well as its record on human rights and its repression against Hong Kong, according to a summary of the White House of the call. But Mr. Biden also said he hopes to work with Mr. Xi collaborates on issues such as the coronavirus, nuclear proliferation and climate change.
U.S. officials did not describe a specific agenda for the Anchorage meeting. Mr Blinken said on Twitter that he looks forward to involving Chinese officials ‘on a number of issues, including where we have deep differences of opinion.’
Mr. Blinken will stop in Alaska on the return of his trip to Asia, his first invasion of Washington amid the coronavirus pandemic. Until now, Mr. Shining to his frustration exclusively telephonically and video-out. Mr. Blinken was vaccinated, but officials cited the risks for others accompanying him as a reason for his limited journey to date.
He leaves Washington on Monday with planned stops in Tokyo and Seoul before heading to Anchorage. Mr Austin, who will travel by separate plane, is leaving Seoul for meetings with officials in India, the Department of Defense said.
While testifying before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on Wednesday, Mr. Blinken said the meeting would be an opportunity to explain the many concerns we have about Beijing’s actions and behavior, including the impact of Chinese trade practices on American workers.
But he said he and Mr. Sullivan will also “investigate whether there are other possibilities for cooperation” with Beijing.
Mr Blinken added that the meeting was not the beginning of a strategic dialogue, and that follow-up meetings depended on ‘tangible progress and tangible outcomes’ from Washington’s concerns.
The meeting in Alaska will be the first known personal diplomatic contact between U.S. and Chinese diplomats since June, when then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held a tense and largely fruitless meeting with Mr. Yang held in Hawaii.
On Friday, Mr. Biden virtually meets with the leaders of Australia, Japan and India, a group collectively known as ‘the Quad’, and one that implicitly aims to control China’s economic and military influence in Asia.
The strategy document issued by the White House last week, and under the supervision of Mr. Sullivan, outlined plans for rebuilding the United States economy, democracy and foreign alliances to establish a “position of power” against opponents such as Russia and China.
“By restoring American credibility and reflecting on the future-oriented global leadership, we will ensure that America, not China, sets the international agenda,” the White House said.
But Mr. Biden has so far stepped cautiously and has not yet taken any major policy actions towards China. Even President Donald J. Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports are currently being reviewed, Mr. Sullivan said last week. And the Pentagon is conducting a month-long review of its China policy and coercion in Asia.
Chinese officials have said publicly that they do not want confrontation with the United States or global domination, and that the Trump administration is to blame for a relationship between Washington and Beijing that, according to analysts, is at its lowest point in decades.
Eric Schmitt contribution made.