On March 18, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Alaska.
The first U.S.-China meeting concluded last Friday (March 19) and, as expected before the meeting, it appears to have failed to achieve any diplomatic breakthroughs, revealing the extent of tensions between the U.S. and China at the beginning of the Biden administration.
However, if one observes the interaction in the U.S. foreign policy circle after the meeting, the focus of attention seems to be less on whether the summit was fruitful or not and more on the unusual posture displayed by Yang Jiechi before the meeting.
At the beginning of the U.S.-China talks, each side originally had a two-minute opening statement, but Yang Jiechi alone spoke for 17 minutes; the bullying behavior of the Chinese representative shocked his American counterpart, and Yang Jiechi even blurted out “you are not qualified to say in front of China that you talk to China from a position of strength” and “you are not qualified to say that you talk to China from a position of strength”. Are we still suffering from the foreigners?”, which are not normally found in traditional diplomatic occasions.
China’s rebuke to the U.S. was staged in front of reporters. As a result, U.S. officials have said that such dramatic remarks by Chinese officials are meant to be staged for a mainland Chinese audience.
Josh Rogin, a Washington Post columnist specializing in diplomatic national security and U.S.-China relations, tweeted a comparison of the differences between the Biden Administration and the Trump administration’s first U.S.-China talks.
Rogin noted, “Yang Jiechi did insult the Trump (Trump) team during the first ‘private’ meeting, but Yang Jiechi insulted the Biden team in front of the cameras, which is new.”
Bill Gertz, author of “Deceiving the Sky: Inside Communist China’s Drive for Global Supremacy” and a veteran media personality, also wrote The following message states, “This is a consistent Chinese strategy: attack and put Americans on the defensive as a way to steer the discussion toward Beijing‘s narrative while ignoring the U.S. talking points.”
Dan Blumenthal, director of the Asian Studies Program at the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and author of The China Nightmare: The Grand Ambitions of a Decaying The China Nightmare: The Grand Ambitions of a Decaying State.
In reposting Rokin’s post, Bu Danian noted, “They have no real diplomatic goals.” He claimed that Chinese Communist diplomacy operates by humiliating the United States and using it to get applause at Home, and that “Yang Jiechi will return home as a hero.”
Yu Maochun, chief China adviser to former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, said in an interview with Radio Free Asia that the Chinese Communist Party officials’ failure to follow the rules and loss of diplomatic poise in meetings is a big failure of Chinese diplomacy.
“The Chinese Communist Party (officials) spoke for ten minutes without following the rules and being very rude, and the diplomatic officials did not have the posture of diplomats. This is not the first Time, it is obvious to everyone.” Yu Maochun said this shows that the Chinese Communist Party is not coming to the issue with sincerity and only wants to use the camera to attack the United States.
Yu Maochun said, “China has blamed the United States for all the crux of Sino-US relations and has no sincerity to reflect on itself, which is a big failure in diplomacy” and a “serious misestimation of the world situation.
“Previously, War Wolf diplomacy was at a relatively low level,” Yu Maochun said, “but now it is spoken by China’s highest-ranking diplomat, reflecting the strength of China’s strategy. I think it will only be more isolating for China’s image internationally.”
Yu Maochun acknowledged the Biden administration’s increased outreach to allies in response to the Chinese Communist challenge.
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also lambasted the actions of Chinese Communist Party foreign officials.
“The CCP’s actions reveal a regime that completely lacks self-awareness and projects its own weakness and callousness onto others,” McCaul said, adding, “This regime clearly has no plans to change its ways. Strength and action are the only things the CCP can understand anymore.”
At a March 19 hearing of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, Republican Rep. Andy Barr (R-Texas) expressed exasperation at the unreasonableness of Chinese Communist diplomats at the U.S.-China talks.
He said, “While I know that the United States has had a very difficult year and we have our own problems. But I want to highlight the moral differences between the U.S. and China.
“Does the U.S. have internment camps that are being used to ethnically cleanse its own population? Has the U.S. been stealing intellectual property from companies that do business here and providing it to the military? Has the United States imprisoned people who are advocating for democracy and human rights?”
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