No major breakthrough at Blinken and Xi meeting, but testy talks are better than sulky silences
The US and China have agreed to “stabilise” the intense rivalry between the two superpowers, but the long-anticipated meeting between America’s top diplomat and China’s President ended with no major breakthrough.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Xi Jinping on Monday in Beijing during his two-day visit in China that included talks with other senior Chinese officials.
Mr Xi welcomed “progress” after shaking hands with Mr Blinken at the Great Hall of the People, a grand venue usually reserved for greeting heads of state.
While both had indicated they were open to further talks, Mr Blinken’s biggest ask – for better communication between their militaries – was rebuffed.
China refused to entertain Washington’s effort to resume military-to-military communication channels, something the US considers crucial to avoid miscalculation and conflict, citing sanctions as the obstacle.
“Progress is hard,” Mr Blinken told reporters. “It takes time, it takes more than one visit.”
Analysis – Talks have halted downward spiral in US-China relations
The US and China are the only countries that can truly call themselves superpowers today. They are the biggest global economies and traders, far ahead of rivals, and they have the world’s most powerful militaries, not to mention vital networks and alliances with almost every other country. So, in these increasingly tetchy times, it makes sense for the two sides to talk.
The meeting in Beijing between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and China’s President Xi Jinping was far from smooth. Mr Blinken told reporters that they had a “robust conversation”, diplomatic speak for irate, if not furious. Mr Xi was more measured saying they had “made progress and reached agreement on some specific issues”.
That should be cause for relief. In recent months, there has been little direct dialogue, but they have lobbed accusations at one another.
Mr Blinken postponed a planned trip earlier this year after a Chinese spy balloon flew across the US, seemingly gathering intelligence from several sensitive American military sites.
One of the few issues uniting Democrats and Republicans in Washington is their suspicion about Beijing. Chinese leaders, meanwhile, regularly denounce the US for neo-imperialism.
But there is too much at stake for these issues to be left to public rhetoric. China is drifting further towards Russia in the war in Ukraine. Tensions over Taiwan are escalating. There are threats to decouple crucial China-US trade links. The climate crisis needs them both to work together. As Mr Blinken said, the relationship is “one of the most consequential in the world”.
Mr Blinken’s meeting with Mr Xi will not have resolved most or even many of their grievances. But it is dialogue, it will have cleared some of the air and may even have halted the downward spiral in relations between them.
There was also little indication that either were prepared to bend from positions on issues including trade, Taiwan, human rights conditions in China and Hong Kong, Chinese military assertiveness in the South China Sea and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
At a news conference concluding his trip, Mr Blinken said Washington had achieved its objectives for the trip, including raising its concerns, trying to set up channels for dialogue and exploring areas of cooperation.
“It is absolutely vital that we have these kinds of communications,” he said.
“This is something we’re going to keep working on.”
Mr Xi said he was pleased with the outcome of Mr Blinken’s earlier meetings with Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang and China’s top diplomat Wang Yi, saying it was important to return to a broad agenda for cooperation and competition endorsed last year by himself and US President Joe Biden at a summit in Bali.
“The Chinese side has made our position clear, and the two sides have agreed to follow through the common understandings President Biden and I had reached in Bali,” Mr Xi said.
Mr Blinken, who was the highest-level US official to visit China since President Joe Biden took office, has planned to visit Beijing in February but the trip was postponed after a suspected Chinese spy balloon flew over US airspace.
That incident, as well as escalated military activity in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, had thrown US-China relations into jeopardy, but Mr Xi suggested the worst could be over.
“The two sides have also made progress and reached agreement on some specific issues,” Mr Xi said without elaborating. “This is very good.”
Additional reporting by agencies
