06/19/2023 05:16 (act. 06/19/2023 05:16)
Blinken met top Chinese foreign policy leader Wang Yi ©APA/AFP
In tensions between the US and China, the two sides are talking directly to each other again for the first time. On the second day of his visit to China, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also met top Chinese foreign policy leader Wang Yi in Beijing on Monday. In China’s power hierarchy, the top politician ranks above Foreign Minister Qin Gang.
The first visit by a US secretary of state to China since 2018 comes amid deep differences and ongoing disputes between the rival powers, with Beijing also having cut channels of communication.
According to US reports, Blinken spoke to his counterpart for seven and a half hours on Sunday – much longer than planned. The US Secretary of State also invited Qin Gang on a return visit to Washington. Both sides described the talks in official statements that followed as frank, deep and constructive. However, the Chinese foreign minister saw the mutual relationship “at its lowest point” since diplomatic relations were established in 1979.
However, there was speculation about whether Blinken might be received by head of state and party leader Xi Jinping on Monday. However, such a meeting would be unusual in terms of protocol and could be seen as a special gesture. Initially, there was no confirmation from Beijing that such a meeting could be planned. Blinken is making up for a trip that was originally supposed to take place in February – but was canceled at the last minute due to allegations of spying against China over the balloon affair.
According to the US State Department, Blinken addressed a number of conflicting issues, as well as areas where China and the United States could work together. In the conversation with Qin Gang, he reiterated that the United States pursues a worldview “that is free and open and that upholds the order based on international rules.” His counterpart said China wants “stable, predictable and constructive” relations and hopes the US “work in the same direction”.
In heightened tensions since last summer, the Chinese side has repeatedly refused to talk through existing communication channels, as a US diplomat described. “We tried several times to get in touch, but no one answered the phone in Beijing,” said the diplomat. He cited events such as China’s major moves in response to then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August, as well as other incidents between the two sides’ armed forces in the Taiwan Strait or South China Sea. .
Earlier this month, Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu also declined to meet his American counterpart Lloyd Austin on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Asian Security Dialogue in Singapore. Despite his own refusal to speak in recent months, the Chinese foreign minister in the meeting with Blinken urged the US side to work with China “to deal with unexpected and sporadic incidents in a calm, professional and rational manner”.
At the same time, Qin Gang made “clear demands on the Taiwan question”: the United States must adhere to the “one China principle”, honor its commitments, and not support the independence forces in Taiwan. A China policy means that Beijing is seen as China’s only legitimate government. China regards democratic Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic and threatens to conquer it. In Taipei, however, an independent government has been in power for more than seven decades, and today it no longer claims to represent all of China.