On March 18, 2021, 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. Blinken and Yang Jiechi exchanged public barbs.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan meet with top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Alaska on Thursday (March 18). Blinken and Yang Jiechi exchanged heated words in public.
On Thursday, the Biden administration and the Chinese Communist government held their first face-to-face meeting. Both sides held strong condemnations of each other’s policies and opened the meeting with a rare public display of tensions between the U.S. and China.
Before the talks, U.S. officials said China must change its behavior if it wants to re-establish relations; but Beijing said the U.S. was delusional if it thought China would compromise.
U.S., China go head-to-head in opening remarks
Reuters reported that Secretary of State John Blinken and National Security Adviser Sullivan appeared on camera on Thursday, and Blinken, in a rare straightforward appearance before the media, said, “We will …… discuss deeply concerning Chinese (Communist Party of China) behavior, including cyberattacks on the United States in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the economic coercion against allies.”
He said, “Each of these actions threatens to maintain a stable, rules-based global order.”
He also said that China’s (CCP) actions threaten human rights.
“The alternative to a rules-based order is a world where the rights and the winners (in power) own everything, and it will be a more violent and unstable world.” Blinken said
While the U.S. side waited for an interpreter, Yang Jiechi delivered a 15-minute speech in Chinese, blasting the U.S. for its struggling democracy and egregious behavior toward minorities.
Yang Jiechi said, “The United States uses its military power and financial hegemony to enforce long-arm jurisdiction and suppress other countries.”
He added: The U.S. abuses so-called national security concepts to hinder normal trade exchanges and incites some countries to attack China (the Communist Party of China). He also said the United States does not represent either international public opinion or the Western world, and called the United States a “champion” of cyber attacks.
Yang Jiechi said, “The United States is not qualified to say that it wants to talk to China (CCP) from a position of strength.”
“…The U.S. is not qualified to say such things, even 20 years ago or 30 years ago (nor is it qualified), because that is not the way to deal with the Chinese people…,” he said.
Sullivan said the United States does not seek conflict with China, but will stand firm on its principles and defend its allies. He praised the recent successful landing of the U.S. Mars rover and said America’s success lies in her ability to continually reinvent herself.
“The ability of a confident nation to take its shortcomings seriously and constantly seek improvement is America’s secret weapon.” Sullivan said.
U.S. Officials Push Back on China’s Violation of Protocols
A senior U.S. government official later said that China (the Communist Party of China) instantly “violated” the protocol and that the leaders of both delegations had only two minutes of opening remarks. He was referring to Yang Jiechi’s 15-minute statement, which violated the agreement.
Speaking to reporters in Alaska, the official said, “The Chinese (Communist Party) delegation …… is focused on public theater (performance) and exaggeration.”
The official said the U.S. will continue to hold the meeting as planned, adding, “The exaggerated diplomatic speeches (by Chinese Communist Party officials) are usually aimed at a domestic (Chinese) audience.”
The talks continued Thursday night in Anchorage, Alaska, and continued on Friday after the U.S. and China appeared barely able to reach consensus at the start of their first meeting.
Dyche tweets hint at readiness to take on Communist China
On Thursday night, new U.S. Trade Representative Dickey tweeted that I’m ready to chew gum and walk while playing chess.
During a congressional Senate Finance Committee nomination hearing, Dyche described China (the Chinese Communist Party) as “simultaneously a competitor, a trading partner and a mega-player whose cooperation the United States also needs to address certain global challenges.”
“We have to remember how to walk, chew gum and play chess all at the same Time.” She added.
The U.S. said the trip to Asia ahead of the meeting with Chinese officials, as well as contacts with Europe, India and other allies, showed that the U.S. has been stepping up its efforts to confront the Chinese Communist Party since President Biden took office in January.
A senior U.S. administration official said before the talks that the U.S. side expects the dialogue with China in Alaska on Thursday and Friday to be “very, very tough” but will really try to find areas where the two sides can work together.
Before the talks, the Chinese side insisted that it was a “strategic dialogue” and a return to the bilateral mechanism of years past. But the U.S. side categorically rejected the idea, calling it a one-time meeting.
On the eve of the talks, the U.S. took a series of actions against the Chinese Communist Party, including beginning to revoke China’s telecommunications licenses, issuing subpoenas by the Commerce Department to several Chinese information technology companies over national security concerns, and sanctioning 24 Chinese and Hong Kong officials for cracking down on democratic self-government in Hong Kong.
For its part, the Chinese Communist Party tried two Canadians on espionage charges on the day of the talks, and the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the timing of the trial was unrelated to the Anchorage talks.
Beijing has called for renewed ties, with U.S.-China relations now at their lowest point in decades.
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