The high-level meeting between the U.S. and China came to a close in Alaska on Friday (March 19) after a heated opening exchange. The U.S. side said it had a difficult and forthright dialogue with China, and China said the exchange was constructive and useful. Both sides said they had deep differences and did not mention any breakthroughs. Some analysts believe that friction will be the norm in future U.S.-China relations.
Secretary of State Blinken and National Security Advisor Sullivan met with Chinese Communist Party Politburo member Yang Jiechi, who is in charge of foreign affairs, and Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi for three two-day talks in Anchorage, Alaska.
Talks end with no consensus
After the talks, the two sides did not issue a joint statement and did not hold a joint press conference. The Chinese representatives left directly without a word, and Blinken and Sullivan made brief statements to the media.
Sullivan said, “We had previously anticipated tough and forthright talks on a wide range of topics, and that’s exactly what we did.” He said the talks achieved what the U.S. side wanted, which was an opportunity for Washington to raise serious concerns about China and articulate its own priorities and issues, and to learn about the Chinese side’s priorities and issues.
We came in with a sober understanding, we left with a sober understanding, and we will return to Washington to judge the situation that we find ourselves in,” he said. We will continue to consult with our allies and partners in the future about the steps to be taken going forward.”
While the Chinese representatives did not meet with reporters after the meeting, Yang Jiechi and Wang Yi were later interviewed by Chinese official media. Yang Jiechi said the two sides had a frank and constructive exchange on foreign policy and bilateral relations and that the dialogue was beneficial, while re-emphasizing that “China will firmly safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests.”
Wang Yi said China made clear to the U.S. side that “sovereignty and territorial integrity are major issues of principle, and the U.S. side should not underestimate China’s determination to defend national sovereignty, security and development interests and the will of the Chinese people to safeguard national dignity and legitimate rights and interests.”
Secretary Blinken said during the media meeting that Washington was clear before the talks that the two sides have fundamental differences in a number of areas, including Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong, Taiwan and cybersecurity.
He said, “Not surprisingly, when we raised those issues clearly and directly, we got a resistant response.”
He and Sullivan also said the U.S. and China have intersecting interests on issues such as Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan and climate and will work with China “through normal diplomatic channels.”
On trade and technology issues, Blinken said the U.S. side told China that these issues are under consideration and that it will consult with Congress and allied partners and ensure that the interests of U.S. businesses and workers are adequately protected.
The U.S. and China have been at odds in recent years in almost every area, including trade and commerce, human rights and technology, and bilateral relations have fallen to their lowest point since the establishment of U.S.-China diplomatic relations. Beijing wants to restart relations, but Washington believes it needs to make changes in areas such as human rights and economic behavior.
U.S.-China relations, could it get any worse?
Zack Cooper, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said, “I think it’s pretty clear right now that both sides are going to be firm on a number of topics and that there’s not likely to be consensus on many aspects of the bilateral relationship.”
That’s not to say there won’t be cooperation, he said, and the two sides may have some lower-level cooperation or restart some trade talks on issues like climate. But he said, “The Time for the two sides to whitewash those differences is over, and we are now in a more diplomatically challenging environment. It won’t necessarily turn into a crisis, but friction will be the norm.”
This tension between the two countries, which is no longer openly masking their differences, was on display in the heated opening exchanges of the talks in the presence of the media. After Blinken criticized China’s actions for undermining the rules-based international order and global stability, Yang Jiechi slammed the United States for using force and financial hegemony to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries and said “the United States is not qualified to speak to China from above.”
Despite the on-camera sparring, a senior U.S. official told reporters that after the media left the room and closed the door, the two sides “immediately got down to business” and began substantive talks.
Some observers were not surprised by the dramatic scene. James Carafano, vice president of national security studies at the Heritage Foundation, told the Voice of America, “China has become increasingly aggressive in its diplomacy over the years. China has gotten a lot of pushback over the last few years for its destabilizing behavior around the world, and they’ve responded aggressively.”
But Yu Jinshan, president of the Chinese Communist Party of New York, is not too worried about the future of U.S.-China relations. He believes that the CCP needs the U.S. in other areas such as trade, that the U.S. needs the CCP’s cooperation in some international affairs, and that the CCP needs the U.S. more strongly than the U.S. needs the CCP.
He told the Voice of America: “This show of tongue and cheek between the two sides is a very wonderful play, and I believe it plays a stabilizing role for the hawks on both sides, and in fact, I believe they will take a more cooperative approach to accomplish some cold harmony that each takes what it needs. …… I believe that during the Biden presidency, relations between the two countries will be relatively calm, but it is probably impossible for the United States to return to its previous policy of appeasement toward China.”
Biden Administration officials have previously said that the high-level bilateral U.S.-China talks will provide important information for the development of a strategy toward China. The Biden administration is now largely continuing its hard-line stance toward China from the Trump administration, but with more emphasis on cooperation and coordination with allies.
The high-level U.S.-China talks come just after Blinken’s three-day trip to Asia. The State Department announced Friday that Blinken will travel to the Belgian capital of Brussels next week to attend a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, engage with European Union leaders and meet with Belgian officials. The State Department said Blinken will consult with EU partners on how to address a range of challenges shared by the U.S. and Europe, including China and Russia.
Barry Pavel, director of the Atlantic Council’s Scottroff Center for Strategy and Security, wrote in a commentary Friday that China respects only strength, and strength in numbers. He said the core of the Biden administration’s strategy is to form a “united front” in consultation with its allied partners, something China hates and wants to avoid.
Once China recognizes that the United States is really dealing with China from a position of strength and not from what Chinese officials said yesterday, the U.S.-China relationship will return to a state where the toughest issues can be managed and cooperation can be explored,” he said.
Yang Jiechi had said in his opening remarks Thursday that the U.S. side “is not qualified to say in front of China that you are talking to China from a position of strength.”
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