Top diplomats from the US and China had a public blast in front of reporters on Thursday as the two world powers met in Alaska to discuss policies and repair ties that have become increasingly tense in recent years.
Foreign Minister Antony Blinken was joined in Anchorage by Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s National Security Adviser, to spend two days with their Chinese counterparts, State Councilor Wang Yi and Chinese Communist Party Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi. meetings in their first sight. -to face meetings.
The atmosphere was expected to be tense, as the US had tightened sanctions against China days earlier due to the suppression of political freedoms in Beijing. But the controversial exchange on camera that followed was a clear departure from the light-hearted pleasure traditionally offered before diplomatic discussions.
Blinken opened his remarks by saying Beijing should return to a rules-based system that destroyed China for violating international norms through their repression of Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang, cyberattacks against the US and ‘economic coercion’ .
“All of these actions threaten the rule-based order that maintains global stability,” Blinken said. “We want to be direct about our concerns, directly about our priorities, with the aim of moving a clearer relationship between our countries forward. ”
Sullivan added: “We are not looking for conflict, but we welcome tough competition, and we will always stand up for our principles for our people and for our friends.”
Yang Jiechi of China responded with a long lecture against the US that lasted so long, and the subsequent translation took 17 minutes. According to a senior official, there was an agreement that each party would speak for two minutes during a photo opportunity before the session began.
“China is strongly opposed to US interference in China’s internal affairs. We have expressed strong opposition to such interference, and we will take active action in response to human rights. We hope that the United States will do better in human rights matters. , “he said. said, referring to the Black Lives Matter movement in the US “China has made steady progress with human rights.”
He added: “And the United States has democracy in the United States. And China has democracy in Chinese style. It is not only the American people but also the people of the world to evaluate how the United States has fared in a promotion of its own democracy in China’s case, after decades of reform and openness, we have come a long way in various fields. ‘
Blinken then points out that the news cameras must remain so that he can refute the criticism of American democracy, noting the long remarks of Chinese officials. Sullivan follows his example. After that, Blinken tried to fire the press pool, but the Chinese officials insisted that they get the chance to host their own second round.
This splash turned a four-minute photo shoot into a diplomatic splash that lasted more than an hour.
A US official told NBC News after the event that the Chinese delegation was violating the agreed protocol.
‘We went ahead with our planned presentation, knowing that exaggerated diplomatic presentations were often aimed at a local audience. We still have a lot of business to do, ”the official said. ‘We will use the remaining hours to give the same messages to the Chinese delegation in privacy. The Chinese delegation, on the other hand, apparently arrived on a large scale, focusing on public plays and dramas.
