China plans to ask US to back Trump policy during Alaska meeting

U.S. officials say the meeting is a way to address U.S. complaints about Chinese actions, such as curtailing freedoms in Hong Kong, expanding the navy in the South China Sea, economic pressure on U.S. allies, intellectual property violations and attacks on the internet. The US also plans to highlight Chinese officials on ways in which the two countries can work together on issues such as climate change and global health.

China comes up with a different agenda that little overlaps with that of Washington, a sign of how far the two sides are from each other and how difficult it will be to restore relations.

Yang Jiechi, a member of the ruling body of the Communist Party, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi want to call on Foreign Minister Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan to impose sanctions and restrictions on Chinese entities. uplift individuals instituted by the Trump administration. the people with knowledge of the plans.

The Chinese officials also plan to propose that high-level regular meetings between the two parties be re-established and a virtual summit between the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping and Mr. Biden, in April during a global conference on climate change. The White House declined to comment on the prospect of such a meeting.

China’s broad agenda reflects greater confidence by Beijing, which in the past used high – level meetings in particular to respond to US initiatives. “China feels that the wind is behind it, that the East is rising and the West is fading,” said Daniel Russel, a former Obama State Department official.

The measures China wants to reverse include restrictions on US sales to Chinese companies such as its telecommunications company Huawei Technologies Co. and chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International. Corp.

; visa restrictions on Communist Party members, Chinese students and state media journalists; and the closure of the Chinese Consulate in Houston. Beijing retaliated in kind and hit U.S. entities and individuals with similar penalties.

If the restrictions are removed or relaxed, China will consider eliminating its own countermeasures, the people with knowledge of the Chinese plans said.

Messrs. Yang and Wang plan to propose a new framework for setting up recurring annual meetings between the two powers to eradicate differences in economic, trade, security and other areas. The so-called strategic dialogue format was introduced during the George W. Bush administration and continued through the Obama years, when Messrs. Blinken and Sullivan were top foreign policy officials.

President Donald Trump abolished the mechanism because his advisers said China was using it to bind the Americans in endless talks. The Biden government has so far shown no interest in re-establishing the talks.

A senior Biden administration official has lowered expectations that the meeting in Alaska would lead to any agreement. The official described it as a one-off meeting that does not predict ‘the resumption of a particular dialogue mechanism or the start of a dialogue process’.

Beijing may also not expect any concrete results, says Mr. Russel, the former Obama official who is now vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute, brainstormed. On the contrary, the Chinese “will try to get a better understanding of where the Americans think the relationship will go and what may be possible,” he said.

So far, the Biden government has continued some of Trump’s policies, including on Tuesday the extension of sanctions against Chinese officials that, according to Hong Kong, undermined Beijing’s autonomy.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Commerce served subpoenas on several Chinese companies as part of the U.S. effort to target technologies and services that could threaten national security.

Tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on Chinese goods are not expected to be high on China’s agenda in Alaska, although Mr. Wang, the foreign minister, in a speech in February called for lifting trade-related fines.

China began reaching out to its assistants from Biden late last year, although China’s foreign ministry said the proposal for the Alaska meeting came from Washington. “The US side has proposed to conduct this high-level strategic dialogue, which we believe makes sense,” the ministry told The Wall Street Journal. It did not elaborate further, but said: “We hope that the two parties will be able to engage in an open dialogue on matters of mutual interest.”

Chinese officials plan to attend a virtual climate summit to be attended by world leaders on April 22, which is Earth Day, to plan a meeting between Messrs. Xi and Biden, Beijing officials said. Both sides have indicated they are willing to work together to fight global warming and other climate-related issues, although the US is aware that China will try to use the climate issue to abandon the US in other areas.

According to Mr. Biden has spoken to the two leaders once since the U.S. presidential election, a two-hour session.

Chinese officials say there is no room for compromise on sovereignty issues involving Hong Kong and Taiwan. Mr. Blinken, who will stop in Alaska this week on his way back from a trip to Japan and South Korea, on Thursday fired salvos from China on Tokyo on both issues.

According to the people familiar with the plans, China also plans to propose that both countries create a “vaccine passport” to verify the proof of vaccination. Chinese officials hope it could help ease the journey between the two countries.

It could also help China gain recognition for its own vaccinations. In recent days, some Chinese embassies have said they will facilitate visas for foreigners who have received Chinese vaccinations.

Beijing’s broad agenda for the meeting shows the growing confidence of the Chinese leadership in the party state system. The Chinese economy resisted a trade war with the Trump administration and bounced back strongly, aided by its early advances in dropping coronavirus infections. Mr. Xi, the most powerful Chinese leader in recent decades, enjoys great support among the Chinese public, Chinese officials say.

Beijing is still eager to get past the turmoil in the US relationship, which has demanded the confidence of business and investors in the second largest economy in the world.

The Biden team also feels it is in a strong position, after passing a $ 1.9 billion economic relief package and starting working with allies on China and other economic issues, the senior Biden official said. .

The symbolism of the meeting is important, the official said, noting that the secretary of state as well as the national security adviser should represent the US. In the past, China has tried to capitalize on divisions between U.S. representatives, the official said.

The fact that Messrs Blinken and Sullivan will be clear during the session, the official said: ‘there will be no daylight and that the games that China has played in the past to divide or try to divide us are simply not not. going to work here. ”

The US side intends to address the economic pressure China has placed on Australia by restricting imports after Canberra requested an independent inquiry into the origin of the coronavirus. A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry this week blamed Australia’s wrong words and actions on issues concerning China’s sovereignty, security and development interests.

The session will help the parties understand the others better, Biden’s senior official said. “It’s about communicating the areas where we intend to take action, and it’s about understanding where our Chinese interlocutors are,” the official said.

Write to Lingling Wei at [email protected] and Bob Davis at [email protected]