China-US relations are “glacial,” and Beijing and Washington’s top priority is to stabilize ties to prevent “decline” and the risk of accidents. The reassuring statement came from Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who was attending a meeting in Beijing with US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns for a rare contact between officials from the two powers. Relations between China and the United States have cooled with the fall of the Chinese spy balloon, which was shot down over the United States skies last February, causing a diplomatic incident between Washington and Beijing, which was already divided on many aspects of bilateral relations communicate from the Taiwan issue.
“Relations between the two countries are once again icy,” the Chinese foreign minister said, quoted in a note from Beijing diplomacy that did not include comments by the US ambassador. “The top priority is to stabilize Sino-US relations, avoid a downward spiral and prevent China-US incidents,” he said. For Qin, “it is not possible to talk about communication on the one hand and to further suppress and contain China on the other”, and that it is necessary to respect China’s sovereignty, security and development interests and to “handle the Taiwan issue properly”. The United States, articulated the Chinese foreign minister, reiterating Beijing’s position, must “stop supporting and forgiving the separatist forces for Taiwan’s independence,” as Beijing defines the island’s current leadership led by President Tsai Ing-wen. A thaw on this basis is difficult to imagine.
