Monday’s meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is an indication that the two countries are trying to mend their extremely strained relations.
xi jinping talks with Antony Blinken: In light of Blinken’s highest-level visit to Beijing in almost five years, China has urged the United States to decide between peace and war.
US officials have expressed hope that the visit will increase stability between the two largest economies in the world, if not lead to breakthroughs.
Xi, China’s most powerful leader in decades, will meet with Blinken on Monday at 4:30 p.m. (0830 GMT), following more than 10 hours of meetings with senior officials over two days.
At the opulent Diaoyutai State Guesthouse earlier on Monday, Blinken and Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat, exchanged courteous smiles before meeting with their deputies, who, in contrast to their bosses, were dressed in masks in accordance with enduring Covid-19 rules.
According to state broadcaster CCTV, Wang informed Blinken that his trip “comes at a critical juncture in China-US relations” when they weren’t being filmed.
“You have to decide whether to engage in conversation or conflict, cooperation or conflict,” he stated.
We need to find a proper way for China and the United States to get along, Wang continued. “We must reverse the downward spiral of China-US relations, push for a return to a healthy and stable track, and work together to achieve this.”
He also delivered a warning over Taiwan, the autonomous democracy that Beijing claims.
China has twice conducted live-fire military manoeuvres in close proximity to the island in the past year out of retaliation for meetings between prominent US politicians and Taiwanese authorities.
Wang reportedly warned Blinken, “On this issue, China has no room to compromise or concede,” as reported by CCTV.
“Disparate lovers”
US officials have expressed concerns that China will attempt to annex Taiwan in the upcoming years and maintain that Washington’s arms deliveries to the island are simply intended to maintain the status quo.
Before departing China, Blinken will speak to the media.
Wang and the State Department’s Matthew Miller had a “candid and productive” conversation.
Miller, alluding to the People’s Republic of China, said Blinken “underscored the importance of responsibly managing the competition between the United States and the PRC through open channels of communication to ensure competition does not veer into conflict”.
Trade, technology, and Taiwan are just a few of the topics that have caused tensions between the US and China to surge in recent years. Both US President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump have dubbed Beijing as the greatest threat to US global leadership.
Sun Yi, 26, expressed her hope for the relationship’s improvement on the streets of Beijing and expressed her desire to travel to the US.
“I believe that the two countries are currently fighting like estranged lovers. Both parties are unwilling to compromise because they each have their own personalities and interests, she claimed.
Expectations for a new summit
On the fringes of the Group of 20 summit in Bali in November, Xi and Biden had a meeting that cautiously raised hopes for a thaw.
In February, the US claimed to have discovered and later shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon hanging above the US mainland, leading Blinken to abruptly cancel his planned and agreed-upon trip in Bali.
On Saturday, Biden stated that he may not have informed the military, which has been less willing to reestablish ties with the United States, about the balloon.
Biden has maintained Trump’s tough stance towards China and gone even further in some instances, such as prohibiting the shipment of expensive semiconductors to the growing superpower.
But Biden has also expressed hope for a future in-person meeting with Xi and for limited cooperation in areas like climate change.
Another opportunity is likely to arise when both Biden and Xi attend the most recent G20 summit in New Delhi in September.
In November, when the United States hosts the biennial Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting, the United States has also extended an invitation to Xi to visit San Francisco.
Under the condition of anonymity, a senior US source claimed that Blinken’s conversations with officials went beyond the standard talking lines.
He described the encounter with Qin Gang, the foreign minister, as “a real conversation.”