ASEAN HEADLINE-ASIA GEOPOLITICS | BEIJING– US, China To Avoid ‘Miscalculations’

 

During his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, US State Secretary Antony Blinken said he raised concerns about China’s support for Russia and its invasion of Ukraine, as well as other issues including Taiwan and the South China Sea.

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BEIJING – Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday, April 26, told top US diplomat Antony Blinken that the world’s two biggest economies should be “partners, not rivals,” but that there were a “number of issues” to be resolved in their relations.

Blinken, in China for the second time in less than a year, earlier in the day met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and other leading politicians here.

Meeting Blinken in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, Xi said the two countries had “made some positive progress” since he met with US President Joe Biden last year, according to state broadcaster CCTV. “The two countries should be partners, not rivals.”

Blinken said he raised concerns with Xi about China’s support for Russia and its invasion of Ukraine, as well as other issues including Taiwan and the South China Sea, human rights and the production and export of synthetic opioid precursors.

Blinken sounded a positive note on recent progress made in bilateral cooperation, including in military communications, counternarcotics and artificial intelligence, on which the two sides agreed to start a dialogue on how to reduce risks from the rapidly  emerging technology.

“We are committed to maintaining and strengthening lines of communication to advance that agenda, and again deal responsibly with our differences so we avoid any miscommunications, any misperceptions, any miscalculations,” he said.

But he stressed that “even as we seek to deepen cooperation, where our interests align, the United States is very clear-eyed about the challenges posed by (China) and about our competing visions for the future. America will always defend our core interests and values.”

Xi said, “There are still a number of issues that need to be resolved, and there is still room for further efforts.”

“We hope the US can also take a positive view of China’s development,” he added.

“When this fundamental problem is solved… relations can truly stabilize, get better, and move forward.”

In their meeting earlier, Blinken and Wang butted heads over a number of contentious bilateral, regional and global issues and both men warned of the dangers of misunderstandings and miscalculations.

The meeting, on the final day of Blinken’s second visit to China in the past year, came as talks between the countries have expanded in recent months even as differences have grown and become more serious, raising concerns about the potential for conflict between the world’s two largest economies.

Wang received Blinken at the Diaoyutai state guesthouse in the capital’s ancient gardens before tables from the late Qing dynasty and an imposing painting of a Chinese mountain scene.

He urged Blinken to address rising disagreements or risk a “downward spiral” between the two powers after months of efforts to ease tensions.

Blinken and Wang each underscored the importance of keeping lines of communication open but they also lamented persistent and deepening divisions that threaten global security. Those divisions were highlighted earlier this week when US President Joe Biden signed a massive foreign aid bill that contains several elements that the Chinese see as problematic.

“Overall, the China-US relationship is beginning to stabilize,” Wang told Blinken. “But at the same time, the negative factors in the relationship are still increasing and building and the relationship is facing all kinds of disruptions.”

“Should China and the United States keep to the right direction of moving forward with stability or return to a downward spiral?” he asked. “This is a major question before our two countries and tests our sincerity and ability.”

Wang also outlined, without being specific, well-known Chinese complaints about US policies and positions on the South China Sea, Taiwan, human rights and China’s right to conduct relations with countries it deems fit.

“China’s legitimate development rights have been unreasonably suppressed and our core interests are facing challenges,” he said, demanding the US refrain from interfering in China’s internal affairs.

Blinken responded by saying that the Biden administration places a premium on US-China dialogue even on issues of dispute. He noted there had been some progress in the past year but suggested that talks would continue to be difficult.

“I look forward to these discussions being very clear, very direct about the areas where we have differences and where the United States stands, and I have no doubt you will do the same on behalf of China,” Blinken told Wang.

“There is no substitute in our judgment for face-to-face diplomacy in order to try to move forward, but also to make sure we’re as clear as possible about the areas where we have differences at the very least to avoid misunderstandings, to avoid miscalculations,” he said.

Despite the tough talk from Wang, US officials and experts believe that Xi’s foremost priority is to manage headwinds in the Chinese economy and that, at least in the short term, he is looking to avoid flare-ups with the West.

Blinken’s aides previously said he would address a range of concerns including China’s support for Russia, which has rapidly rebuilt its military base two years into its invasion of Ukraine.

‘Very clear, very direct’

As he opened the meeting with Wang, Blinken said he would be “very clear, very direct,” but added, “I hope we make some progress on the issues our presidents agreed” on at the California summit.

He said the US and China needed to show that they are “managing responsibly the most consequential relationship, I think, for both of us in the world.”

The two countries should be as “clear as possible about the areas where we have differences – at the very least to avoid misunderstandings, to avoid miscalculations,” Blinken said.

“That really is a shared responsibility that we have not only for our own people, but for people around the world, given the impact that our relationship has,” he said.

Biden, who recently spoke by telephone with Xi, faces a tough re-election fight in November against his predecessor Donald Trump, who has cast China as an enemy and vowed a hard line.

The Biden administration has highlighted wins achieved by its diplomacy with China including what officials say is the first crackdown in years by Beijing on producers of precursor chemicals to fentanyl, the painkiller behind an addiction epidemic in the US.

A State Department official said Blinken would ask China for more consistent law-enforcement action.

Blinken arrived in China on Wednesday, visiting Shanghai shortly before Biden signed the $95 billion foreign aid package that has several elements likely to anger Beijing, including $8 billion to counter China’s growing aggressiveness toward Taiwan and in the South China Sea. It also seeks to force TikTok’s China-based parent company to sell the social media platform.

China and the US are the major players in the Indo-Pacific. Washington has become increasingly alarmed by Beijing’s growing aggressiveness in recent years toward Taiwan and its smaller Southeast Asian neighbors with which it has significant territorial and maritime disputes in the South China Sea.

China has railed against US assistance to Taiwan and immediately condemned the aid as a dangerous provocation. It also strongly opposes efforts to force TikTok’s sale.

The bill also allots $61 billion for Ukraine to defend itself from Russia’s invasion. The Biden administration has complained loudly that Chinese support for Russia’s military-industrial sector has allowed Moscow to subvert western sanctions and ramp up attacks on Ukraine.

United States officials have said China’s ties with Russia would be a primary topic of conversation during Blinken’s visit, and just before Friday’s meetings began, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he would visit China in May.