Yang Jiechi (R), director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) attend a high-level U.S.-China diplomatic meeting in Alaska, U.S., March 18, 2021.
United States. Some experts say that Yang’s “shrewish” remarks will make it difficult for U.S.-China relations to return.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with Yang Jiechi, head of the Chinese Communist Party‘s Foreign Affairs Committee, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Alaska from March 18 to 19.
Once the U.S.-China dialogue opened on the 18th, it turned into a fiery and acrimonious dispute.
The U.S. accused Beijing of actions that threaten the global order based on international law, vowing that Washington would fight to the end to defend its principles and friends. While the U.S. side waited for an interpreter, Yang Jiechi fired back, speaking for at least 15 minutes in one breath, all of which was devoted to upside-down accusations of U.S. wrongdoing.
Yang Jiechi borrowed directly from the issue of black race in the U.S., which democracy often combats, and in turn urged the Biden administration to do better on the issue of AIDS. At the same Time, Yang also charged the U.S. with being a champion of cyber attacks, not representing global public opinion, and having a history of killing black people.
Yang Jiechi also said that the U.S. opening statement was not normal, so his didn’t have to be either.
Wang Yi, standing next to Yang Jiechi, directly accused the U.S. of announcing sanctions against 24 senior Chinese and Hong Kong officials hours before the dialogue between the two sides, and questioned, “Is this how the U.S. receives its guests?”
A senior U.S. government official said the Chinese Communist Party immediately “violated” the protocol, and that the leaders of the two sides had only two minutes of opening remarks.
He said that, contrary to what Yang Jiechi said, the U.S. return to the world and the strengthening of alliances is highly appreciated by many countries, which also face serious concerns about China.
In response to Yang Jiechi’s criticism of the United States for minding its own business first, Sullivan added that a confident nation is able to reflect on its own shortcomings and continually seek improvement. This is the secret of the United States.
United Press commented that the Chinese diplomat’s U.S.-China dialogue in Alaska was no different from a shrew’s scolding.
The French broadcaster also commented that Zhao Lijian, who is often described as “brutal” by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, is said to be a typical representative of the Chinese Communist Party’s war-wolf diplomats. Unlike Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Yang Jiechi, who holds the real power in diplomacy, is not well known. But is Yang Jiechi, as the leading figure of the Chinese side in this Alaska dialogue, “out of his element” by showing his face in such a way?
The lack of diplomatic decorum in such a high-level diplomatic meeting shatters any illusion of a possible reset in U.S.-China relations.
In a commentary titled “Biden confronts Beijing’s injustice with toughness,” Deutsche Welle said that the brief speeches by Chinese and U.S. representatives to the media changed the public debate into a war of words for nearly an hour between them.
The commentary said that although the U.S. side had anticipated the difficulty of the talks, it was still surprised by the ‘showboating’ behavior of Chinese Communist Party officials, as previously described by U.S. officials. This point fully illustrates that the end of the Trump era in no way means the end of the crisis between China and the United States.
The commentary also said that Biden’s top man back then, the observer’s eight years in the presidency, had worked hard to get closer to the CCP to try to avoid a U.S.-China conflict. Since then, the Chinese side has continued to reinforce this diplomatic line.
In response, Biden and his team have adapted to the fact that the U.S. must strongly block and stop the CCP’s expansionist behavior and take firm and decisive measures in the face of the CCP’s unfair trade practices. Beijing, for its part, believes it has also made up its mind to make clear its identity as the most important adversary of the United States and the entire Western camp, and to stand firm in its position.
On the eve of the talks, the U.S. has already taken steps against the Chinese Communist Party, including beginning to revoke Chinese telecommunications licenses, issuing subpoenas to Chinese information technology companies by the U.S. Department of Commerce over national security issues, and sanctioning 24 Chinese and Hong Kong officials for suppressing democratic autonomy in Hong Kong.
The Wall Street Journal Air Force reported that the Chinese Communist Party had intended to use the talks to facilitate an antique video summit between the U.S. and Chinese heads of state in April.
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