US and Chinese officials were in Germany over the weekend looking to patch up a rift opened by the response to a Chinese balloon shot down over US territory, but a meeting between their top diplomats showed how difficult it might be to compromise.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Central Foreign Affairs Commission Director Wang Yi (王毅) traded barbs on everything from the balloon and Taiwan to North Korea and Russia in their first meeting since the high-altitude craft traversed the US and provoked an acrimonious round of finger pointing.
Blinken also said China was weighing whether to give Russia weapons for its war in Ukraine, a move that would ratchet up tension even further.
Photo: AP
It all underscored how, for all the claims from US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) about their desire to steady ties, neither side seems capable of doing so. The meeting was meant to pave the way for a visit by Blinken to Beijing — he canceled a visit once the balloon was spotted — but only seemed to make prospects more remote.
“The relationship is becoming more brittle,” said Kori Schake, director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, who has previously worked in the US Department of State and at the Pentagon.
“If China mirrors to Russia the assistance the West is providing Ukraine, it will cement the Russo-Chinese alliance and also Western perceptions of China as a malevolent international force,” she said.
Leaders from places such as Brazil and Singapore have warned about the military and economic spillovers of a prolonged clash between the world’s two biggest economies — and expressed their unwillingness to choose between them.
The rocky meeting and sharp rhetoric around it demonstrated just how sour the US-China relationship is, and how both sides appear willing to squabble over petty issues. In its readout of the talks, China refused even to call it a meeting, referring to it as an “informal contact.”
Wang rejected what he called US “finger-pointing” regarding Russia, and said China would release a new peace proposal for Ukraine in the coming days that would be in keeping with previous efforts by Xi.
Wang, who was set to fly to Moscow for meetings with top Russian officials after his stay in Munich, also met Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba, and condemned attacks on nuclear power stations.
What the world heard from Blinken about China’s role “underscores that we’re going to have to really up our diplomatic game,” Brookings Institution senior fellow Fiona Hill said in a US television interview. “A lot of other countries just don’t buy that there’s as big an issue as we see with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”
What is unclear is whether the squabble on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference represented some healthy venting that they can now get past, or yet another signal that the US and China remain stuck in a cycle of recriminations that could push them closer to conflict.
There are areas where the two sides would benefit from cooperation, such as climate change and nuclear proliferation, observers have said.
In a readout from the meeting, US Department of State spokesman Ned Price said Blinken had condemned a new intercontinental ballistic missile launch by North Korea “and emphasized the need for responsible powers to respond to such significant international challenges” — a diplomatic request for China exert its influence and curb such launches.
“A meeting is always better than nothing,” said Henry Wang Huiyao (王輝耀), founder of the Center for China and Globalization. “Both sides appeared to be tough. They both have domestic audiences to cater to.”
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS