President Xi meets Blinken; says agreement reached on ‘some specific issues’ with US

BEIJING — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday met with Chinese President Xi Jinping who said an agreement on “some specific issues” has been reached during the extensive talks between the top diplomats of the two countries amidst tense ties.

After hours of uncertainty, Blinken met Xi on the last day of his two-day high-stakes visit during which the Chinese president spoke of an agreement without providing any details. Blinken is the highest-level US official to visit China since President Joe Biden took office, and the first secretary of state to make the trip in five years.

In his opening remarks, Xi said that China’s top diplomat and Director of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi and Foreign Minister Qin Gang described their talks with Blinken as candid and in-depth.

Xi said China has made its position clear and both sides had reached an agreement on “some specific issues” but did not elaborate.

The Chinese side has made its position clear, and the two sides have agreed to “follow through with the common understanding President Joe Biden and I had reached in Bali,” state-run CGTN quoted President Xi as saying.

“The two sides also made progress and reached an agreement on some specific issues,” Xi said.

“State-to-state interactions should always be based on mutual respect and sincerity. I hope that Secretary Blinken, through this visit, could make a positive contribution to stabilising China-US relations,” he said.

Earlier, there was uncertainty about the Xi-Blinken meeting which further highlighted the fraught US-China relations.

A failure to schedule a face-to-face meeting would have been seen by Washington as a slight, breaking with a number of previous visits from top American diplomats, CNN reported.

It finally took place after Blinken’s three-hour-long meeting with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi, who is regarded as Xi’s top foreign policy advisor.

Xi told Blinken that the world needs a generally stable China-US relationship, and whether the two countries can find the right way to get along bears on the future of humanity.

The Chinese, like the Americans, are dignified, confident and self-reliant people, and they both have the right to pursue a better life, he said.

Noting that the common interests of the two countries should be valued and their respective success is an opportunity instead of a threat to each other, Xi said the two countries should act with a sense of responsibility for history, for the people and for the world, and handle China-US relations properly, according to an official press release.

Xi stressed that major-country competition does not represent the trend of the times, still less can it solve America’s own problems or the challenges facing the world.

Refuting the US perception that China is a competitor, Xi said China respects US interests and does not seek to challenge or displace it.

In the same vein, the US needs to respect China and must not hurt China’s legitimate rights and interests. Neither side should try to shape the other side by its own will, still less deprive the other side of its legitimate right to development.

Blinken’s visit to China was among the key outcomes of the Xi-Biden meeting in Bali in which they agreed to work on improving ties.

In his meeting with Blinken, Wang urged the US to “reflect deeply” and manage differences with China while attributing worsening ties to Washington’s “erroneous perception” of Beijing.

Wang told Blinken that his trip to Beijing came at a “critical juncture” in US-China ties and it was “necessary to make a choice between dialogue and confrontation, cooperation and conflict”.

“Sino-US relations have experienced ups and downs, and it is necessary for the US to reflect deeply and work with China to jointly manage differences and avoid strategic surprises,” he said.

“With an attitude of being responsible to the people, history and the world, we must reverse the downward spiral of Sino-US relations, push for a return to a healthy and stable track and work together to find a correct way for China and the United States to get along in the new era,” he said.

Wang also urged the US not to assume China was seeking dominance, and not to “misjudge” Beijing based on the trajectories of traditional Western powers.

“This is key as to whether the US policy towards China can truly return to objectivity and rationality,” Wang said, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

Wang also called for the US to lift unilateral sanctions against China, stop the suppression of China’s technological development, and not interfere in Beijing’s internal affairs.

According to the Chinese statement on the meeting, Blinken shared Washington’s views with Wang, adding that the US looked forward to strengthening communication with China and managing differences responsibly.

Qin in his several rounds of talks with Blinken on Sunday pointed out that the China-US relationship is at the lowest point since its establishment.

This does not serve the fundamental interests of the two peoples or meet the shared expectations of the international community. China’s policy toward the US remains consistent and stable, a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said.

Qin told Blinken that China is committed to building a stable, predictable and constructive relationship with the US. China hopes that the US will adopt an objective and rational perception of China, work with China in the same direction, uphold the political foundation of China-US relations, and handle unexpected and sporadic events in a calm, professional and rational manner, he said.

He was apparently referring to the US move to shoot down a Chinese spy balloon flying in American airspace.

Qin, while highlighting China’s firm position on Taiwan, insisted that Washington should not support Taiwan’s independence forces, namely the present Taiwanese government headed by President Tsai-Ing-wen.

Qin pointed out that the Taiwan question is the core of China’s core interests, the most consequential issue and the most pronounced risk in the China-US relationship and the US side should abide by the one-China principle.

China views Taiwan as a breakaway province. Beijing has not ruled out the possible use of force to reunify the self-ruled island with the mainland.

Addressing a news conference at the end of his visit here, Blinken said that both sides recognised the need to work to stabilise the bilateral relationship.

“I came to Beijing to strengthen high-level channels of communication, to make clear our positions and intentions in areas of disagreement, and to explore areas where we might work together on our interests, align on shared transnational challenges, and we did all of that,” Blinken said.

“We’re not going to have success on every issue between us on any given day, but in a whole variety of areas, on the terms that we set for this trip, we have made progress and we are moving forward,” he said.

Blinken also repeatedly noted that he sought to clarify the US’ economic stance toward China in his meetings with top Chinese officials and to emphasise that the US is not seeking to “contain” China economically.

On Taiwan, Blinken reiterated the longstanding US’ One-China policy, saying that policy has not changed. He said that the US does not support Taiwan’s independence, but added that there is rising concern about China’s “provocative actions”.

Blinken’s visit is expected to usher in a new round of visits by top US and Chinese officials, possibly including a meeting between Xi and Biden in the coming months.

His visit also comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to Washington and his meeting with President Biden on June 22. Their talks are expected to include deepening defence cooperation and firming up the Quad alliance of the US, India, Australia and Japan, which China alleges is aimed at containing it.

Ahead of Blinken’s visit to Beijing, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the US expects a “transformational moment” in Indian ties during Modi’s visit to Washington and played down the secretary of state’s visit to Beijing.

Blinken’s visit was largely seen as an attempt to keep the communication channels open between Washington and Beijing so that bilateral relations can be responsibly managed.

Qin Feng, an academic committee member of Peking University’s Institute for Global Cooperation and Understanding, said Blinken’s visit was part of the preparation for President Xi’s trip to the US in November, where he is expected to meet President Biden on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

Chances for such a meeting may also come at the G20 leaders’ gathering in September in New Delhi.