US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday called for open lines of communication as he spoke with Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Qin Gang (秦剛), ahead of planned face-to-face discussions in Beijing.
Relations between the world’s two largest economies have tanked in recent years over Taiwan, trade and human rights, among a litany of other issues.
Blinken is due in Beijing on Sunday for talks aimed at calming nerves, after a previous planned visit was abruptly canceled in February.
Photo: AP
In his call with Qin yesterday, Blinken said they “discussed ongoing efforts to maintain open channels of communication as well as bilateral and global issues.”
US Department of State spokesman Matthew Miller also said that Blinken had stressed “the importance of maintaining open lines of communication to responsibly manage the US-PRC [People’s Republic of China] relationship to avoid miscalculation and conflict.”
Blinken “made clear the US would continue to use diplomatic engagements to raise areas of concern as well as areas of potential cooperation,” Miller said.
A Beijing readout of the call struck a more confrontational tone, reporting that Qin had warned that relations between the two countries had faced “new difficulties and challenges” since the beginning of the year.
“It’s clear who is responsible,” Qin was quoted as saying by the Chinese foreign ministry.
“China has always viewed and managed China-US relations in accordance with the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation put forward by [Chinese] President Xi Jinping (習近平),” he added.
Blinken’s planned visit to Beijing would be the first trip by a top US diplomat to China since his predecessor, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, visited in October 2018.
US President Joe Biden and Xi met in Bali, Indonesia, in November last year and agreed to try to prevent tensions from soaring out of control, including by sending Blinken to Beijing.
However, Blinken abruptly canceled a trip scheduled in early February after the US said it detected — and later shot down — a Chinese surveillance balloon flying over the US mainland.
The two sides have more recently looked again to keep tensions in check, including with an extensive, closed-door meeting between US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Chinese Central Foreign Affairs Commission Director Wang Yi (王毅) in Vienna last month.
Biden has sought limited areas for cooperation with China, such as climate change, in contrast with the more fully adversarial position adopted at the end of the administration of his predecessor, former US president Donald Trump.
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