By Eric Vandenbroeck and co-workers

Blinken-Xi Talks Highlight Continued Areas Of Disagreement

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday after three days of talks between Blinken and top Chinese officials and business leaders, including a 5 1/2-hour meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. This was Blinken’s second visit to China since U.S. President Joe Biden took office and the second high-level trip by a U.S. official to the country this month; Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen spent five days in the country in early April meeting with Chinese officials and finance leaders. That came on the heels of a rare phone call between Biden and Xi on April 2.

The flurry of diplomatic contacts reflects an effort by the two world powers to stabilize their relationship after the period of animosity earlier in Biden’s tenure, and it comes despite numerous areas of disagreement that continue to strain relations. “We are committed to maintaining and strengthening lines of communication between us” to prevent “any miscommunications, any misperceptions, and any miscalculations,” Blinken said during his visit.

Xi expressed similar aspirations: “China and the United States should be partners rather than rivals,” Xi told Blinken, adding that this year marks the 45th anniversary of the two countries establishing diplomatic ties.

Yet tensions remained high as both sides accused the other of trying to stifle their respective economies and influence their foreign-policy strategies. “The United States has adopted an endless stream of measures to suppress China’s economy, trade, science, and technology,” Wang said. Xi appeared to echo this sentiment, blaming Washington for trying to hinder China’s technological progress and encircling its interests in the Indo-Pacific, specifically regarding Taiwan and the South China Sea.

Blinken pointed fingers as well, accusing Beijing of endangering U.S. jobs with cheap Chinese exports. He also threatened to place new sanctions on China—adding to the more than 100 sanctions that already exist on Chinese individuals and entities—if Beijing does not curb its support for Russia in its war against Ukraine. In April, a senior Biden administration official said China has provided Moscow with semiconductors, drones, and other materials that fill critical gaps in Russian supply chains. “Russia would struggle to sustain its assault on Ukraine without China’s support,” Blinken said on Friday.

China has denied providing weapons to Russia and maintains its neutrality in the war. However, soon after Blinken arrived in Beijing on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he will visit China in May.

Among other top concerns, Blinken told CNN on Friday that Washington has seen evidence of Chinese attempts to “influence and arguably interfere” in the United States’ upcoming presidential election despite Xi pledging not to do so during his meeting with Biden at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco last November. Campaign rhetoric has since grown more hawkish as Biden faces pressure to better protect U.S. industries from Chinese competition.

Few agreements emerged during this week’s talks, and there was reportedly no mention of the recently passed U.S. law that will ban TikTok if its Chinese owner, ByteDance, does not sell it within a year. However, both sides established their first joint conversation on artificial intelligence, to be held in the coming weeks. And the United States and China agreed to continue improving bilateral communication between their militaries as well as increase cultural exchanges, with Blinken saying he supports more U.S. citizens studying in China.

 

 

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