AGI – China and the United States held “sincere, detailed and constructive” communications on the first day of the US Secretary of State’s visit to Beijing. Antony Blinkbut the Taiwan issue remains “the greatest risk” in relations between the two great powers. This comes after nearly eight hours of talks between the chief of US diplomacy and his Chinese counterpart at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse – west of the Chinese capital where China traditionally holds high-level diplomatic events. Qin Gang.
In fact, China is not stepping back on Taiwan and unwilling to compromise. This is the message Beijing conveyed to the Foreign Minister during his official trip to China.
Meeting with Xi Jinping
Blinken will also meet President Xi Jinping today: a senior US official confirmed this and asked to remain anonymous. The meeting, which has not yet been confirmed by the Chinese side, is scheduled to take place shortly at 4:30 p.m. local time (10:30 a.m. in Italy) on the second and final day of the US diplomatic chief’s visit to Beijing.
The rising tensions between Beijing and Washington
Relations between China and the United States are “at their lowest point since diplomatic relations were established” between Washington and Beijing in 1979, and Beijing is asking the United States for an “objective and rational understanding” of China to come to a meeting , to maintain the political foundations of relations and, above all, “to deal with unforeseen incidents calmly, professionally and rationally,” according to a statement by state-run China Central Television.
The implied but clear reference is to the diplomatic incident triggered by Chinese balloon shot down by US off its shores last February, which had cooled the already complicated China-US relationship and brought it to what Beijing called “freezing point”.
For China, the goal is “to advance the stabilization of Sino-US relations and put them back on track”: Not an easy task given the conditions, but China and the United States, including according to Washington, have broken the ice with ” “open, substantive and constructive” discussions.
“Reduce the risk of misunderstandings”
Blinken, on his first visit to China since heading up U.S. diplomacy, stressed the importance of “keeping communication channels open on a wide range of issues to reduce the risk of misunderstandings and errors of judgment,” the agency said in a statement US Department of State. The most notable result, recognized by both China and the United States, is the desire to continue the dialogue with a visit by the Chinese foreign minister to the United States.
“The two sides have agreed to maintain high-level exchanges,” Beijing stresses, and “Secretary Blinken has invited Foreign Minister Qin Gang to visit the United States, and Qin Gang has expressed willingness” to visit. China and the US, again in Beijing’s favour, have agreed to implement the consensus reached by the US President in Bali last November. Joe Bidenand from the Chinese President, Xi Jinping, and to “effectively manage and control differences and promote dialogue, sharing and collaboration”.
The “biggest risk”
Blinken meetings will continue tomorrow, US diplomacy underlines, without going into detail, but ai positive tones Today’s long conversation is balanced by the Taiwan issue, which remains the real knot in relations to be untied. The island issue, over which Beijing claims sovereignty, “is the focus of China’s fundamental interests, the most important issue in the Sino-US affair and the greatest risk” in relations, the foreign minister bluntly stressed. Chinese.
There is therefore no room for compromise for China, which urges the US not to support Taiwan’s “independence” while the United States, without mentioning Taiwan directly, emphasizes that it will continue to work with allies and partners on a world vision that be “free, open and rule-based”. Finally, no direct mention of the war in UkraineToday’s talks largely focused on bilateral ties, although Beijing notes that China and the United States “exchanged views on important international and regional issues of common interest.”