WASHINGTON (AP) – The United States and China will face a new test in their increasingly troubled relations when senior officials from both countries meet in Alaska.
Ties between the two largest economies in the world have been broken for years and the Biden government has yet to show any signs that it is ready or willing to retreat into hard-line positions. taken under President Donald Trump. Not even China has shown signs that it is prepared to relieve the pressure it has exerted. Thus, the stage is set for a contentious first face-to-face meeting on Thursday.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan will meet with China’s two top diplomats, State adviser Wang Yi and the head of foreign affairs for the Chinese Communist Party, Yang Jiechi, in Anchorage, Alaska. Difficult discussions are expected about trade, human rights in Tibet, Hong Kong, western Xinjiang in China, Taiwan, Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea and the coronavirus pandemic.
No agreement is expected.
“This is really a one-time meeting,” said a senior government official. “This is not the resumption of a specific dialogue mechanism or the beginning of a dialogue process.” The official informed reporters before the meeting on condition of anonymity.
Blinken will attend the meeting just arrived from Japan and South Korea, where he and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin were promoting the Biden government’s commitment to its treaty allies in Asia.
The day before the meeting, Blinken announced new sanctions against the authorities because of China’s crackdown on defenders of democracy in Hong Kong. In response, the Chinese intensified their rhetoric by opposing US interference in domestic affairs.
China, not unexpectedly, criticized the United States against the initiative to give a pro-Beijing committee the power to nominate more Hong Kong lawmakers, which reduces the proportion of those directly elected and ensures that only those determined to be truly loyal to Beijing are allowed to run for public office – effectively excluding opposition figures from the political process.
The imposition of sanctions “fully exposes the sinister intention on the US side to interfere in China’s internal affairs, disrupt Hong Kong and obstruct China’s stability and development,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, told reporters at a daily briefing on Wednesday.
The White House has set low expectations for the Blinken and Sullivan meeting, which officials say will be an initial opportunity to address intense disagreements.
The senior government official described the negotiations as a chance for both sides to “take stock” of the relationship. The official said the two sides will not make a joint statement after the meeting, and that no major announcements should come out of the negotiations.
China’s ambassador to the United States also downplayed expectations for the Alaskan meeting in comments to Chinese media on Wednesday, while hoping it would pave the way for better communication.
“Naturally, we do not expect a round of dialogue to resolve all issues between China and the United States and we do not have high hopes,” said Cui Tiankai in a transcript of his comments posted on the embassy website.
“My wish is that this can be a start and that both sides can start a process of dialogue that is sincere, constructive and realistic,” said Cui. “If we do that, I think this exchange will be a success.”
Blinken, in Japan before going to South Korea and Alaska, said the United States “will back down, if necessary, when China uses coercion or aggression to get what it wants”.
“The relationship with China is very complex,” he said. “It has adversary aspects; it has competitive aspects; it has cooperative aspects. But the common denominator in dealing with each of them is to make sure that we are approaching China with a position of strength, and that strength starts with our alliance, with our solidarity, because it is really a unique asset that we have and China does not. t. “
The Chinese do not back down.
On Wednesday, at the United Nations, they attacked the U.S. human rights record, citing what they called US failures against COVID-19 that cost “hundreds of thousands of lives”, as well as racial discrimination, police brutality and a “evil past of genocide.” Jiang Duan, advisor to the Chinese mission in Geneva, voiced criticism at the end of an examination of the United States’ human rights record at the UN Human Rights Council.
The government held a series of talks with Pacific allies, including Biden’s virtual summit with Quad leaders – Australia, India, Japan and the United States – before starting high-level talks with China.
Trump was proud to forge what he considered a strong relationship with Xi Jinping. But the relationship disintegrated after the coronavirus pandemic spread from Wuhan province to the world and unleashed an economic and public health disaster.
In addition to repressing China’s aggressiveness in the Indo-Pacific and its human rights record, Biden faces other thorny issues in the relationship.
But so far, he has refused to terminate hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs imposed by Trump against China or to lift bans on Chinese apps.
Biden is, however, seeking cooperation from China to put pressure on North Korea’s Kim Jong Un over his country’s nuclear program.
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Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani in Washington, Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Zen Soo in Hong Kong contributed to this report.