BEIJING (AP) — The United States and China failed to overcome their most serious disagreements but were able to discuss them in potentially constructive ways and agreed to continue talks, U.S. officials said Sunday.
Officials said Secretary of State Antony Blinken was able, during a nearly 6-hour meeting, to secure a visit to Washington from Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang. But, they said, progress on other issues remains a work in progress.
Blinken, the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit China since President Joe Biden took office, will have higher-level contact with the Chinese on Monday, potentially including Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Despite Blinken’s presence in the Chinese capital and the relatively optimistic assessment of Sunday’s meeting, the prospects for meaningful progress on the thorniest issues facing the world’s two largest economies remain slim.
Blinken’s trip follows his postponement of plans to visit China in February after a Chinese surveillance balloon was shot down over the United States. Blinken is the most senior US official to visit China since President Joe Biden took office.
His talks could pave the way for a meeting in the coming months between US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. It ended the first of two days of high-stakes diplomatic talks in Beijing aimed at trying to ease tensions that have brought many people around the world to the brink.
This long list includes disagreements ranging from trade in Taiwan, human rights conditions in China and Hong Kong to Chinese military assertion in the South China Sea and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Blinken also urged the Chinese to release detained U.S. citizens and take action to curb the production and export of fentanyl precursors that are fueling the opioid crisis in the United States.
U.S. officials said Blinken made each of those points, though neither side showed any tendency to backtrack on entrenched positions.
Shortly before leaving Washington, Blinken stressed the importance for the United States and China to establish and maintain better lines of communication. The United States wants to ensure “that the competition we have with China does not escalate into conflict” due to avoidable misunderstandings, he told reporters.
Biden and Xi had pledged to improve communications “precisely so that we can ensure that we communicate as clearly as possible to avoid potential misunderstandings and miscommunications,” Blinken said Friday.
Xi hinted at a possible desire to reduce tensions, saying during a meeting with Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates on Friday that the United States and China can cooperate to “benefit our two countries “.
“I believe that the foundation of China-US relations lies with the people,” Xi told Gates. “In the current global situation, we can carry out various activities that benefit both our countries, the people of our countries, and the entire human race.”
Since the cancellation of Blinken’s trip in February, there have been high profile engagements. CIA chief William Burns visited China in May, while China’s commerce minister visited the United States. And Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, met with Wang in Vienna in May.
But these were punctuated by outbursts of angry rhetoric from both sides over the Taiwan Strait, their broader intentions in the Indo-Pacific, China’s refusal to condemn Russia for its war on Ukraine. and US allegations from Washington that Beijing is trying to boost its global surveillance capabilities, including in Cuba.
And, earlier this month, China’s defense minister rejected a request from US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for a meeting on the sidelines of a security symposium in Singapore, a sign of lingering discontent. .
Austin said Friday he was confident he and his Chinese counterpart would meet “at some point, but we’re not there yet.”
Underscoring the difficulties, China dismissed a report by a US security firm, which blamed China-linked hackers for attacks on hundreds of state agencies, schools and other targets around the world. , as “wacky and unprofessional”.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson repeated accusations that Washington is carrying out hacking attacks and complained that the cybersecurity industry rarely reports on them.
This followed a similar retort earlier in the week when China said Qin had, in a phone call with Blinken, urged the United States to respect “China’s core concerns” such as the issue of autonomy of Taiwan, “stop interfering in China’s internal affairs and stop harming China’s sovereignty, security and development interests in the name of competition. »
Meanwhile, the national security advisers of the United States, Japan and the Philippines held their first joint talks on Friday and agreed to strengthen their defense cooperation, in part to counter growing influence and ambitions. from China.
This coincides with the Biden administration signing a deal with Australia and Britain to supply the first nuclear-powered submarines, with China moving quickly to expand its diplomatic presence, particularly in the United States. Indian Ocean and Pacific Island nations, where it has opened or plans to open at least five new embassies over the next year.
The agreement is part of an 18-month-old nuclear partnership, under the acronym AUKUS – for Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying issued a statement of cautious optimism as Blinken began its first day of meetings in Beijing.
“I hope this meeting can help bring China-US relations back to what the two presidents agreed to in Bali,” she said in a statement on Twitter.
However, two US officials played down hopes for major progress and stressed that the trip was aimed at restoring a sense of calm and normality in high-level contacts.
“We come to Beijing with a realistic and confident approach and a sincere desire to manage our competition as responsibly as possible,” said Daniel Kritenbrink, the top US diplomat for East Asia and the Pacific.
Kurt Campbell, the top Asia expert on the National Security Council, said “intense competition requires intense diplomacy if we’re going to manage tensions. It’s the only way to dispel misperceptions, signal , to communicate and work together where and when our interests align.
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Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim in Washington and Huizhong Wu in Taipei, Taiwan contributed to this report.