On March 18 and 19, top Chinese and U.S. diplomats held three rounds of talks in Anchorage, Alaska. This was the first formal diplomatic meeting between the U.S. and China since the Biden administration took office, and it is likely to determine the framework for the development of U.S.-China relations over the next four years, naturally drawing strong attention from the outside world.
As soon as the talks began, the most surprising thing was that Yang Jiechi, the top representative of the Chinese side in the negotiations and a member of the Politburo, changed his mild image as a professional diplomat in the past and played the role of a “War Wolf“, continuing China’s style of “war wolf diplomacy” in recent years, not only violating the rules of speaking Time without any courtesy, but also saying in a rare lecture-like language that “the United States is not qualified to speak to China from a position of strength. China.” Immediately after the statement was made, the Chinese domestic pinko community became enraged, and the Chinese official media pushed for a new wave of anti-American nationalism. Yang Jiechi’s statement was seen as a sign that China was strong enough to teach the U.S. a lesson and a symbol of China’s tough stance against the U.S. However, is this really the case? In my opinion, the toughness shown by the Chinese side in this U.S.-China talks is actually nothing more than a weakness within a weakness.
Why do you say so? The reason is very simple: the location of the high-level diplomatic meeting was chosen for the U.S. side to meet with Chinese representatives on the way back from a trip to Asia, while for the Chinese side, it was a long trip to a remote place in the snowy United States to meet with the U.S. representatives. From the choice of location, the U.S. side already showed a condescending posture. To make matters worse, just one day before the upcoming meeting between the two sides, the U.S. announced new sanctions against senior Chinese officials for human rights violations, with the vice chairmen of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s nominally highest authority, listed on the sanctions list. The timing of such a strong sanction is unusual in terms of international diplomatic practice. The U.S. side’s attitude is clearly meant to give a downward spiral to the Chinese side. If China really had the courage and strength to take a tough stance against the United States, it would have announced immediately that the talks would be canceled and another date and venue would be chosen to express its protest against the U.S. side.
But in fact, even though China knew it was being hit in the face, it was also extremely resentful, which is why Yang Jiechi’s “war wolf” and Wang Yi’s statement that “new sanctions are not a way of hospitality”, but China finally did not react strongly and still came to the U.S. to meet with the U.S. representatives as promised. As for verbalizing some harsh words, it is already the last bottom line, and frankly speaking, it is just venting some grievances. If such a few harsh words are called tough, it means that the CCP’s toughness is actually just a toughness in words. The fact that it is not toughness if it tolerates humiliation shows that it is not the United States but the CCP that needs the talks more, and it is not the United States but China that is more eager to restore relations between the two countries. The nationalist propaganda in China is just to deceive the domestic pinkos, and the statements that “Yang Jiechi’s speech is powerful” and “China can look at the world equally” reflect the mentality of Ah Q under Lu Xun.
Of course, the first meeting was open to the media, and both the U.S. and China naturally had to show a tough stance, as the saying goes: “Losers don’t lose. In the next closed-door talks, I believe the exchanges between the two sides will not be so heated, and Yang Jiechi and Wang Yi will be much more polite in their speeches. What’s more, this is only the first exchange between China and the U.S., and Liu He’s absence indicates that one of the most important disputes between the two countries – economic and trade issues – is not on the list. Obviously, there will be a series of diplomatic back-and-forth between China and the U.S. in the future. Is China really going to take a tough stance against the U.S., as Yang Jiechi’s attitude shows? We will be able to see more from the series of substantive negotiations that will follow.
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