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China’s actions “threaten a rule-based order that maintains global stability,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a two-day meeting in Anchorage.
According to Blinken, the Americans will speak about “their deep concern about China’s actions, including in Xinjiang,” where, according to Washington, Beijing is perpetrating the genocide of Uighur Muslims.
Yang Jiechi, director of the Central Commission for Foreign Relations of the Communist Party of China, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi A. Blinken also said there would be a dialogue on “Hong Kong, Taiwan, cyberattacks against the United States, economic violence against Our Allies”.
Beijing stood firm.
“China firmly opposes US interference in China’s internal affairs.” We express our strong opposition to such interference and will take strong action in response, “Yang Jiechi warned.
Wang Yi condemned the latest US sanctions announced on the eve of talks against senior Chinese officials for restricting Hong Kong’s freedoms.
“You shouldn’t be hosting your guests like this,” Wang Yi said.
Cold War mentality
Significant tensions still exist between Washington and Beijing during the tenure of former US President Donald Trump over the trade war and disputes over a wide range of issues, from defense to technology to Hong Kong rights.
Anchorage, in a remote location along the Pacific Ocean, was seen as a more neutral location than Washington or Beijing for the three-session talks, which will end on Friday morning.
However, both sides did not live up to expectations, and the tone set at the start of the matches only confirmed the breadth of disagreements between the rivals.
The last meeting in June did not help improve relations, reminding Trump of a new Cold War at the end of his term.
Biden is tough on China, and Blinken has called it “the biggest geopolitical challenge of the 21st century” for the United States.
However, Biden’s team has said it wants to engage in global diplomacy, unlike Trump, who has taken an isolationist and allied stance, especially on issues such as climate change, pandemics and non-proliferation.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Thursday that the United States “does not want conflict” but “welcomes strong competition.”
Yang Jiechi asked him to “abandon the Cold War mentality” and said that Beijing does not want “no confrontation, no conflict.”
But clearly influenced by the US accusations, he has long accused Washington of demanding “an end to bring his democracy to the rest of the world.”
Mr. Blinken responded: “I have to tell you that what I hear is very different from what you portray. I am very happy that the United States is back, that we are communicating again with our allies and partners. “
“I also hear great concern about some of your government’s actions,” he added.
A senior Biden administration official in Anchorage accused the Chinese delegation of “acting to effect” and said it “focuses on public performance and theatricality rather than substance.”
Bonnie Glaser, an expert on Taiwan-China affairs at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the impact of the talks would be limited.
“They will find out if they have something in common on some issues and if there are ways to deal with disagreements and even reduce them,” he told AFP.
“It just came to our notice then.” Reloading the relationship is unlikely, “Glaser added.
Coercion
Before the talks, Blinken visited Japan and South Korea, important allies of the United States in the Asia-Pacific region.
In Tokyo, the US secretary of state warned China about “violence and destabilizing behavior.”
Mr. Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also attended an important meeting of the so-called Quartet. This alliance of the United States, Australia, Japan and India seeks to stifle China’s ambitions.
Blinken and his allies have criticized China on a number of issues, including the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy, tensions over Taiwan and Tibet, the treatment of Uighurs in Xinjiang, Beijing’s grand ambitions in the China Sea. Southern, the theft of intellectual property and the lack of transparency about the origin of COVID-19.
Elizabeth Economy of Stanford University’s Hoover Institution noted that while the Biden administration has abandoned Trump’s provocative rhetoric, temperatures remain high.
“Frankly, it is difficult to imagine China changing course on any issue that matters to the United States … Our core values and visions for the future world are fundamentally different,” he told AFP.
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