- Biden on Friday expressed pride in Blinken for confronting Chinese diplomats in Alaska.
- Blinken and China’s top diplomat had a lengthy verbal discussion on Thursday.
- The secretary of state called China for human rights abuses and defended the United States’ record.
- See more stories on the Insider business page.
President Joe Biden on Friday expressed pride for Secretary of State Antony Blinken after the top US diplomat confronted his Chinese counterpart in an angry exchange in Alaska the day before.
“I am very proud of the Secretary of State,” Biden said in remarks to reporters before leaving for Atlanta.
At the start of negotiations in Anchorage on Thursday – the first face-to-face meeting between American and Chinese officials under the Biden government – Blinken said the United States intended to use the discussions to raise concerns about China’s increasingly aggressive activities at home. and abroad.
Blinken cited concerns about human rights abuses in Xinjiang, attacks on democracy in Hong Kong, aggression against Taiwan, cyber attacks on the United States and economic coercion against US allies.
“Each of these actions threatens the rule-based order that maintains global stability. That is why they are not merely internal issues and that is why we feel an obligation to raise these issues here today,” said Blinken.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan echoed Blinken’s concerns and said that China had engaged in “attacks on basic values”.
—CSPAN (@cspan) March 19, 2021
Yang Jiechi, China’s top diplomat, responded by accusing the United States of “condescending” to China, while rejecting the notion that the US government is adequate to teach other countries about human rights and related issues.
“We believe it is important for the United States to change its own image and to stop promoting its own democracy in the rest of the world,” said Yang. “Many people in the United States have little confidence in America’s democracy.”
“In human rights, we expect the United States to do better in human rights,” added Yang. “China has made steady progress in human rights and the fact is that there are many problems in the United States with respect to human rights, which is also admitted by the United States itself.”
Yang said that human rights challenges in the United States are “profound” and “have not only emerged in the past four years, like Black Lives Matter”.
The Chinese diplomat’s comments lasted about 15 minutes, according to the Associated Press, and the State Department accused the Chinese delegation of violating the format of the negotiations by breaking the two-minute opening statement.
After Yang’s long comments, Blinken asked reporters to remain in the room so that he could offer an answer.
Blinken said that what makes the United States different is its willingness to address its shortcomings, apparently alluding to the Chinese government’s general denial of human rights abuses.
“What we’ve done throughout our history is to face these challenges openly, publicly, transparently, not trying to ignore them, not trying to pretend they don’t exist, not trying to sweep them under a rug,” said Blinken . “And sometimes it’s painful, sometimes it’s ugly, but each time, we come out stronger, better, more united as a country.”
Tensions between the US and China reached historic levels last year, and Thursday’s meeting was emblematic of the increasingly combative dynamic.
Although former President Donald Trump often boasted of his friendly relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the beginning of his first term, his willingness towards China has changed with the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump blamed the Chinese government for the pandemic, which originated in Wuhan, China. This rhetoric, combined with Trump’s trade war with China, has put great strains on U.S.-China relations. Leading experts have warned that the United States and China are entering a new Cold War.
From a political point of view, Biden’s approach to China does not differ drastically from Trump’s approach. But the new president’s general tone towards Beijing, while still harsh, is less belligerent than that of his predecessor.
The Biden government issued new sanctions against two dozen Chinese officials on Wednesday for attacks on democracy in Hong Kong, just a day before the first high-level talks between the U.S. and China began. Chinese diplomats strongly criticized this measure on Thursday. “This is not the way to welcome your guests,” said Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister.