US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (2nd R) talks to National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan (R) while facing Yang Jiechi (2nd L), director of the Central Commission on Foreign Affairs, and Wang Yi (L), China’s foreign minister during the opening session of US and China talks at the Captain Cook Hotel in Anchorage, Alaska, on March 18, 2021.
Frederic J. Brown | AFP | Getty Images
BEIJING – The first high-level gathering of U.S. and Chinese officials under President Joe Biden began Thursday with an exchange of insults during a press conference in Alaska ahead of the meeting.
According to NBC News, a planned photo shoot of reporters for reporters lasted one hour and 15 minutes due to a frothy exchange of words. Both the Chinese and American parties repeatedly called the reporters back into the room so they could add comments.
Expectations were already low for the meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Yang Jiechi, director of the Central Commission on Foreign Affairs Matters of the Chinese Communist Party.
In his opening speech, Blinken said that the US would discuss its ‘deep concern about China’s actions, including in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, cyber attacks on the United States, economic coercion against our allies’.
“Each of these actions threatens the rule-based order that maintains global stability. Therefore, it is not merely internal matters, and we feel an obligation to raise these issues here today,” Blinken said. “I said that the United States’ relationship with China would be competitive where it should work, word (s) could be contradictory, where (they) should be.”
The United States does not have the qualification to say that it wants to talk to China from a strong position.
Yang Jiechi
Director of the Central Commission on Foreign Affairs, Chinese Communist Party
Beijing views issues in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan as part of its domestic affairs, and officials reiterated at the meeting that China is strongly opposed to foreign interference.
According to the American side, the American party carefully orchestrated the dialogue, according to an official translation reported by NBC.
“I think we thought too well of the United States, we thought the American side would follow the necessary diplomatic protocols,” Yang said, adding that “the United States does not have the qualification to say that he is with China wants to speak from a position of power. ‘
Yang said the US should deal with the Chinese party properly and reiterated Beijing’s call for cooperation.
I hear deep satisfaction that the United States is back, that we are being involved with our allies and partners again. I also hear deep concerns about some actions your government is taking.
Antony Blinken
US Secretary of State
Under Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Chinese government is consolidating its power at home and abroad. In recent years, Beijing has continued large-scale trade agreements with neighboring countries in Asia and the Pacific and the European Union.
Chinese authorities have also highlighted their success in quickly controlling the coronavirus pandemic domestically, and their claim to rescue 1.4 billion people in the country from poverty – as Yang both pointed out in his meeting with US officials.
“We believe it is important for the United States to change its own image and to promote its own democracy in the rest of the world,” Yang said.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately comment.
Blinken arrived fresh in Alaska from a trip to Japan and South Korea. He told his Chinese counterparts that what he had heard from other countries was very different from what Wang described as hope for demonstrations of benevolence and sincerity between the US and China.
“I hear deep satisfaction that the United States is back, that we are reconnected with our allies and partners,” Blinken said. “I also hear deep concerns about some of the actions your government is taking. And we will have the opportunity to discuss it when we go to work.”
The first round of talks between the two countries then ended after more than three hours. The two-day talks will be concluded on Friday.
Tensions between the US and China have escalated in recent years under former President Donald Trump, who has used tariffs and sanctions to lodge persistent complaints about China’s lack of intellectual property protection, forced technology transfer requirements and other unfair business practices. to address. The dispute was initially about trade, before moving on to technology, finance and the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
Just as Biden was inaugurated, Beijing announced sanctions against 28 people, including several members of the Trump administration. Days before the first high-level meeting between the two countries, the Biden administration announced sanctions on 24 Chinese officials.
Analysts expected Biden to take a more moderate approach and work more closely with US allies to put pressure on China.