The U.S.-China Alaska Dialogue begins in a few hours, but it is not a dialogue that China would have liked to have.
Secretary of State Blinken and White House National Security Adviser Sullivan met with Yang Jiechi, Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who were in Alaska. This was the first face-to-face meeting between senior U.S. and Chinese officials since Biden became president.
Judging from the details disclosed in Blinken’s recent speech about the arrangements for this meeting, the Chinese side had great expectations for this meeting and agreed to the U.S. conditions to that end.
The dialogue was not as simple as the Chinese official media itself said it was “in response to an appointment. Yang Jiechi and Wang Yi traveled a long way to Alaska, the snowy land of the United States, and the U.S. side told the world all its arrangements and intentions.
First of all, the U.S. side determined the location and order of talks, and the U.S. side emphasized the importance of the location and order of talks.
White House spokesman Bodhisakhi said on March 10: “It is important to us that the first meeting between this administration and Chinese officials should take place on U.S. soil, and it should take place after we have met and consulted closely with our partners and friends in Asia and Europe.”
Second, China characterized the meeting as a “high-level strategic dialogue,” but Blinken said it was not a “strategic dialogue” and that the U.S. wanted to use the opportunity to “express our concerns” about the challenges Beijing poses to U.S. and allied states on regional security, prosperity and values “to express our concerns.”
Once again, the U.S. has no intention of engaging in the series of follow-up exchanges that the Chinese side expects.
On March 10, Blinken said, “There is no intention at this stage to engage in a series of follow-up contacts. If there is, it has to be based on the condition that we see substantial progress and concrete results from China in addressing our concerns.”
Finally, according to AFP, no meals were prepared for this dialogue, something that has not been done in previous high-level meetings between the U.S. and China.
Most importantly, I’m afraid, it goes back to what the White House spokesman said earlier about the “order”. Following the announcement of the dialogue, on March 12, President Biden first held a “quadrilateral summit” with the heads of Australia, Japan and India to discuss Indo-Pacific security, targeting China directly.
On March 16-17, Blinken and Defense Secretary Austin held a 2+2 meeting with Japan’s foreign and defense ministers in Tokyo, and after the Tokyo meeting, Blinken and Austin traveled to Seoul, South Korea, for a 2+2 meeting with the South Korean side.
That’s how important “sequencing” is. This arrangement is a way to show Beijing that the U.S. has a strong alliance, according to Gloria Grainger, director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.
Also, hours before the dialogue began, the tone of the U.S. side was very tough, without any intention of paving the way for the “dialogue,” and, driven by the U.S., the tone of the allies was also very tough.
U.S. Secretary of State John Blinken and Defense Secretary John Austin issued a joint statement Tuesday after meeting with senior Japanese officials, accusing Beijing of violating the “international order” with its maritime claims and related activities, defending Japan’s right to manage the Diaoyu Islands, and calling for stability in the Taiwan Strait.
China had a hunch that before the two top U.S. officials arrived in Tokyo, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman urged the United States to “stop interfering in China’s internal affairs” and cooperate to manage differences and improve relations between the two countries. But to no avail.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga blamed China by name when he met with Blinken and Austin on March 16, criticizing China for imposing a “maritime police law” and trying to unilaterally disrupt the status quo in the East and South China Seas.
Japanese Defense Minister Nobusuke Kishi said Japan “absolutely cannot accept” China’s actions in the East China Sea and South China Sea to increase tensions, and that China’s actions violate international law. Blinken said that if China uses coercive or aggressive means, the United States will respond if necessary. Condemning Beijing’s “destabilization” in the South and East China Seas, Austin also said the U.S. goal is “to ensure that we maintain a competitive advantage over China or anyone who might threaten us or our alliances.
The U.S. pledge to firmly protect all of Japan, including the Diaoyu Islands, is seen as the clearest warning by a U.S. diplomat in recent years against Chinese provocations against Japan and other countries in the region.
According to the New York Times, Blinken and Austin’s Tokyo visit “set a confrontational mood” for the U.S.-China talks. The condemnation of the Chinese threat set the tone for the U.S.-China dialogue. The Wall Street Journal commented that Blinken’s harsh attack on Beijing in Tokyo was a symbolic opening to the Biden Administration‘s diplomatic trip.
So much so that the Chinese side is furious, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman 17 angrily denounced the U.S.-Japanese joint statement “wolf for wolf”, “malicious attacks on China’s foreign policy”, said “Japan is willing to look up to others The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman on the 17th denounced the U.S.-Japanese joint statement as “wolfish” and “a malicious attack on China’s foreign policy,” saying that “Japan is willing to look up to others and “does not hesitate to draw wolves into its house.
On the same day, Blinken continued his stance, telling Japanese media that China had not only intensified its repressive actions internally, but also acted aggressively and oppressively externally, raising regional tensions.
The U.S. side kept hammering away, and on March 16, Secretary of State Blinken updated his report on Hong Kong‘s autonomy law, naming 24 senior Chinese and Hong Kong officials who were sanctioned on the grounds that they were undermining Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy. These officials include 14 vice-chairmen of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People’s Congress, except for Li Zhanshu, all of whom are at the vice-state level, including Politburo member Wang Chen.
Is this a downward spiral for China? Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian “strongly condemned” and said China “has taken the necessary countermeasures”, what measures, it is not clear?
Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the U.S. side has said everything, still talking, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman had to repeat: China’s position on Taiwan, Hong Kong, the border, the South China Sea, the Diaoyu Islands and other issues is consistent and clear. These topics “are all internal affairs of China and do not allow any foreign interference”.
The U.S. side kept talking until a few hours before the dialogue, stressing that the subject of the dialogue was of most concern to the U.S. side, including Xinjiang, Hong Kong, the Taiwan Strait and China’s economic coercion of U.S. allies.
Zhao Lijian came out again on March 17, saying that the U.S. was “pressuring with rhythm before the dialogue, and it is impossible to succeed”. He also said that the dialogue, the format are proposed by the U.S. side, China hopes that through this dialogue, in accordance with the spirit of the call between the two heads of state, to focus on cooperation, manage differences, and promote China-US relations back on track.
In that call, Biden expressed his concern to Xi about the current situation in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Xinjiang, and about China’s “aggressive and unfair” economic policies. The Chinese official media did not report these contents, and Zhao Lijian did not say these things, but only emphasized the Chinese attitude of “focusing on cooperation and managing differences” in the Xinhua news release, etc.
Why is there a need for such an awkward meeting?
Beijing will not be unaware of the difficulties of this dialogue, and to make a little progress in this meeting, Beijing will have to make concessions, if it won’t give an inch, Yang Jiechi and Wang Yi will go to Alaska and fight hard? Of course, they are following Xi Jinping‘s will.
I wonder if Yang Jiechi remembers that disastrous meeting he had with Blinken’s predecessor, Pompeo, in Hawaii nine months ago?
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