Beijing, China:
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken opened talks with China’s top envoy on Monday and could potentially meet President Xi Jinping on the last day of a trip to Beijing to improve sorely strained ties.
The top US diplomat met with Foreign Minister Qin Gang for seven and a half hours on Sunday, more than expected, with the two sides agreeing to continue communication to avoid a full-scale conflict.
Neither side has confirmed a meeting between Blinken and Xi, China’s most powerful leader in decades, whose meeting with President Joe Biden in Bali in November raised tentative hopes of a thaw in the relationship.
But diplomats see a meeting with Xi likely.
Blinken opened the day with a meeting with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi, whose position in the Communist Party ranks above the foreign minister.
Returning to the ornate state guest house in the old Diaoyutai Gardens where Sunday’s lectures took place, Blinken and Wang politely smiled for the cameras and exchanged pleasantries before going to meet with their aides, who, unlike their bosses, wore masks in accordance with Covid-19 protocols.
Tensions between the world’s two largest economies have skyrocketed in recent years, ranging from trade and technology to Taiwan.
US officials say they don’t expect major breakthroughs from Blinken’s talks, but they hope to reopen regular lines of communication to prevent mishaps from escalating into conflict.
Both countries said on Sunday that Qin accepted an offer to make a return visit to Washington at a later date.
‘A real conversation’
Talks on Sunday were “candid, substantive and constructive,” said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
Blinken stressed “the importance of diplomacy and maintaining open communication channels across the range of issues to reduce the risk of misconceptions and miscalculations,” Miller said.
Behind closed doors, Qin told Blinken that relations between the United States and China are “at their lowest point since the establishment of diplomatic relations,” according to state-run broadcaster CCTV.
“This is not in line with the fundamental interests of the two peoples, nor does it meet the common expectations of the international community,” Qin said during the talks in the ancient gardens.
But he warned Taiwan, the self-governing democracy claimed by Beijing, has launched live fire near the island twice since August in anger at actions by leading US lawmakers.
“The Taiwan issue is at the heart of China’s core interests, the most important issue in China-US relations and the greatest risk,” Qin said.
A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the discussions went beyond the usual topics of conversation, including about Taiwan.
“This was a real conversation,” he said.
Xi struck a conciliatory tone last week when he met another prominent American, software mogul turned philanthropist Bill Gates.
“You are the first American friend I met in Beijing this year,” Xi told Gates in Beijing, according to the state-run People’s Daily.
“We have always pinned our hopes on the American people and hoped for lasting friendship between the peoples of the two countries,” he added.
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