Leading diplomats from the United States and China had a public outburst in front of reporters on Thursday, when the two global powers met in Alaska to discuss policies and try to restore ties that have become increasingly tense in recent years.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken was accompanied in Anchorage by Jake Sullivan, national security adviser to President Joe Biden, to meet with his Chinese counterparts, State Counselor Wang Yi and the head of foreign affairs of the Chinese Communist Party, Yang Jiechi , for two days of conversations in your first face face-to-face meetings.
The atmosphere was expected to be tense because days earlier the United States imposed sanctions on China for Beijing’s crackdown on political freedoms in Hong Kong. But the controversial exchanges in front of the cameras that followed were a clear departure from the light pleasantries traditionally offered before diplomatic discussions.
Blinken began his comments by saying that Beijing needed to return to a rule-based system, criticizing China for violating international norms through its crackdown on Uighurs and other minorities in Xinjiang, cyber attacks against the United States and “economic coercion”.
“Each of these actions threatens the rule-based order that maintains global stability,” said Blinken. “Our intention is to be direct about our concerns, direct about our priorities, with the aim of a clearer relationship between our countries moving forward. . “
Sullivan added: “We do not seek conflict, but we accept fierce competition and will always uphold our principles for our people and our friends.”
Yang Jiechi, from China, responded with a long lecture against the US that lasted so long that the subsequent translation took 17 minutes. According to a senior official, there was an agreement that each side would speak for two minutes at a photo opportunity before the session began.
“China is firmly opposed to US interference in China’s internal affairs. We express our firm opposition to such interference and we will take firm action in response to human rights. We hope that the United States will do better with human rights,” he said, referring to to the Black Lives Matter movement in the USA “China has been making steady progress in human rights.”
He added: “And the United States has democracy in the style of the United States. And China has democracy in the style of China. It is not just the American people, but also the people of the world, to evaluate the performance of the United States in advancing its own democracy. in the case of China, after decades of reform and openness, we have come a long way in several fields. “
Blinken then signaled for the news cameras to stay so that he could refute criticisms of US democracy, noting the lengthy comments by Chinese officials. Sullivan did the same. Blinken then tried to dispense with the press, but Chinese officials insisted that they would have a chance to offer their own runoff.
This fight turned a four-minute photo shoot into a diplomatic fight that lasted more than an hour.
A US official told NBC News after the event that the Chinese delegation violated the mutually agreed protocol.
“We continue with our planned presentation, knowing that exaggerated diplomatic presentations are often aimed at the domestic audience. We still have a lot of business to do, ”said the official. “We will use the remaining hours to outline to the Chinese delegation in particular the same messages that we have consistently delivered in public. The Chinese delegation, on the other hand, seems to have arrived with an intention of arrogance, focused on public theatricality and drama at the expense of the content ”.
