Efforts to build a floor under US-China relations have yet to be successful, and coming months are likely to determine if it is possible to re-establish constructive diplomacy with Beijing, a top White House official said on Thursday, stressing the need for Cold War-era hotlines and other crisis mechanisms.
Speaking at a time of heightened tensions with China over a US stopover by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), US Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell said Washington had made clear to Beijing it was ready to have another call between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
“We’re prepared and, from our perspective, we want to keep lines of communication open and it is our intention to keep those lines open,” he said at an event hosted by the Center for a New American Security think tank.
Photo: AP
Biden said last month after a US jet shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon that he planned to speak to Xi about the episode and clear the air, but this has not happened and tensions have risen.
Campbell said Beijing had been “reluctant to engage in discussions around confidence-building or crisis communications, or hotlines” and it would be a “responsible step” to have such mechanisms, given that Chinese and US military forces operate in proximity to each other.
“We built those during the Cold War. We think that they’re appropriate now,” he added.
Campbell said the US was in the early stages of a new phase of competitive relations with China.
“There’s also a recognition that in many respects, our efforts to build a foundation, a floor under the relationship and guardrails, have yet to be successful,” he said, referring to US priorities when Biden and Xi last spoke at a meeting in Bali, Indonesia, in November last year.
“I think you will see in the coming months whether it’s going to be possible to re-establish effective, predictable, constructive diplomacy between the United States and China,” Campbell said.
Tsai arrived in New York on Wednesday on her way to Central America. On her way back to Taipei next week, she is scheduled to stop in Los Angeles, where she is expected to meet US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy, an interaction China has warned could lead to a “serious confrontation” in US-China relations.
The visit comes at a time when US relations with China are at what some analysts said are at their worst since Washington normalized ties with Beijing in 1979 and switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei.
Campbell said the US is increasing its focus on the Indo-Pacific region in spite of the war in Ukraine, and this would been seen in its budgets, engagements, aid and assistance.
He said that the US relationship with India, for example, is one of the country’s most important.
“I believe we are destined to work more closely together,” he said, adding that Washington wants to attract more Indian students to US universities and send more Americans to colleges in India.
Campbell said the US has an “ambitious agenda” for the APEC summit it is scheduled to host in November, and Biden plans to address the US’ “ vibrant economic and commercial role” in the region.
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