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ANCHORAGE, Alaska: Senior U.S. and Chinese officials concluded two days of contentious talks in Alaska on Friday (March 19) after exchanging sharp and unusually public criticism of widely different views of each other and the world in their first face-to-face meeting . since President Joe Biden took office.
The two sides ended the meetings after an opening session in which they attacked each other in an unusually public way. The United States accused the Chinese delegation of “bombast” and Beijing responded by saying there was a “strong smell of gunpowder and drama” that was entirely the fault of the Americans.
The meetings in Anchorage were a further test in the increasingly contentious relations between the two countries, which are at odds on a variety of issues from trade to human rights in Tibet, Hong Kong and China’s western Xinjiang region. , as well as on the assertiveness of Taiwan, China. in the South China Sea and the coronavirus pandemic.
“We received a defensive response,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after the meetings concluded.
“We wanted to share with them the important concerns we have about a number of actions that China has taken, and behaviors that display concerns, shared by our allies and partners,” he said. And we did. We also wanted to make our own policies, priorities and worldview very clear. And we did it too. “
LEE: US says China’s actions ‘threaten’ global stability at meeting between countries
In separate comments, the Chinese Communist Party’s foreign affairs chief Yang Jiechi said dialogue was the only way to resolve differences, but also made it clear that Beijing had no intention of backing down on any issue.
“China will safeguard our national sovereignty, security and our interests to develop China,” he said. “It is an irreversible trend,” he said.
“We hope that the United States does not underestimate China’s determination to defend its territory, safeguard its people and defend its just interests,” he said.
“I am very proud of the Secretary of State,” Biden told reporters at the White House on Friday morning when asked about the previous day’s meeting.
When the talks opened on Thursday, Blinken said the Biden administration is united with its allies in rejecting Chinese authoritarianism. In response, Yang accused Washington of hypocrisy on human rights and other issues, many of which Blinken mentioned in his comments.
“Each of these actions threatens the rule-based order that maintains global stability,” Blinken said of China’s actions. “That is why they are not merely internal matters, and that is why we feel an obligation to raise these issues here today.”
National security adviser Jake Sullivan amplified the criticism, saying that China has launched an “assault on core values.”
“We do not seek conflict, but we welcome stiff competition,” he said.
READ: High-level talks between the United States and China conclude after bitter openness
READ: There are no easy solutions when diplomats from the US and China meet in Alaska
Yang responded angrily by demanding that the United States stop pushing its own version of democracy at a time when the United States itself has been plagued by internal discontent. He also accused the United States of failing to address its own human rights issues and disagreed with what it said was “condescension” of Blinken, Sullivan and other US officials.
“We believe that it is important for the United States to change its own image and stop promoting its own democracy in the rest of the world,” Yang said. “A lot of people within the United States actually have little confidence in the democracy of the United States.”
“China will not accept unwarranted accusations from the US side,” he said, adding that recent events have plunged relations “into a period of unprecedented difficulty” that “has damaged the interests of our two peoples.”
“There is no way to strangle China,” he said.
Comment: Expectations of restoration of US-China relations must be managed
Blinken appeared to be annoyed by the tenor and length of the comments, which lasted for more than 15 minutes. He said that his impressions when speaking with world leaders and on his just-concluded trip to Japan and South Korea were completely different from the Chinese position.
“I am hearing deep satisfaction at the return of the United States, because we are once again engaged,” Blinken replied. “I also hear deep concern about some of the actions your government is taking.”
Underscoring the animosity, the State Department criticized the Chinese delegation for violating an agreed two-minute time limit for opening remarks and suggested that it “seems (ed) to have come with the intention of being bombastic, focused on public theatricality. and the dramaturgy on the substance “.
“America’s approach will be based on trust in our dealings with Beijing, what we are doing from a position of strength, even as we have the humility of knowing that we are a country that is eternally striving to become a more perfect union.” He said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, speaking later in Beijing, said that Blinken and Sullivan had prompted Chinese officials to make a “solemn response” after US officials carried out “baseless attacks” against China.
“It was the American side that… sparked the dispute in the first place, so the two sides had a strong smell of gunpowder and drama early on in the opening remarks. It was not the original intention of the Chinese side, ”Zhao told reporters in a daily briefing.
Ties between the United States and China have been severed for years, and the Biden administration has yet to indicate whether it is ready or willing to move away from the hard-line positions taken under Donald Trump.
Just one day before the meeting, Blinken had announced new sanctions for Beijing’s crackdown on democracy advocates in Hong Kong. In response, China stepped up its rhetoric opposing US interference in internal affairs and complained directly about it.
“Is this a decision made by the United States to try to gain some advantage in dealing with China?” State Councilor Wang Yi asked. “Certainly this is miscalculated and only reflects the vulnerability and weakness within the United States and will not affect China’s position or solve those problems.”
Trump prided himself on forging what he considered a strong relationship with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. But the relationship disintegrated after the coronavirus pandemic spread from Wuhan province around the world, unleashing an economic and public health disaster.
