The Chinese (left) and American delegations, with the head of Chinese diplomacy Wang Yi and his American counterpart Antony Blinken (the only ones without a mask), on July 9, 2022 in Bali, Indonesia (POOL/AFP/Stefani Reynolds)
The heads of Chinese and American diplomacy, Wang Yi and Antony Blinken, held a rare and unusually long meeting on the Indonesian island of Bali on Saturday, welcoming “constructive” discussions and a “consensus” to try to relax the stormy relations between the two superpowers.
“Despite the complexity of our relationship, I can say with some confidence that our delegations found today’s discussions useful, frank and constructive,” Mr. Blinken said after five hours of talks with Mr. Wang, the day after a meeting of the heads of diplomacy of the G20 in Bali.
He noted, however, that Beijing’s growing military pressure on Taiwan, a democratic island that China considers part of its territory and has vowed to one day retake, remains a problem for Washington.
“I expressed the deep concerns of the United States over Beijing’s increasingly provocative rhetoric and activities toward Taiwan and the vital importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Strait. of Taiwan”, underlined Mr. Blinken at the end of the meeting.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry also deemed the meeting satisfactory. “The two sides, on the basis of reciprocity and mutual benefit, have reached consensus to ensure that the China-US joint working group achieves more results,” he said in his report. .
Mr Blinken also asked his Chinese counterpart to distance himself from Moscow and condemn Russian “aggression” against Ukraine.
“This is truly the time when we all need to stand up, as one G20 country after another has done, to condemn the aggression,” he said.
The day before, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had slammed the door of the meeting with his G20 counterparts after having suffered a torrent of criticism over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“There was a strong consensus and Russia was left isolated, as it has been many times since the start of this war,” Blinken said. “In fact, Foreign Minister Lavrov left the meeting earlier than expected, perhaps because this message had been so clear and resounding,” he said.
He also announced that the United States would provide an additional $360 million in aid to Ukraine, including for food, clean water and emergency health care.
– Avoid a conflict –
The main objective of the meeting, the resumption of a high-level dialogue between the United States and China, seems to have been achieved.
As the West strives to isolate Russia after the invasion of Ukraine and the global economy is plagued by growing uncertainties, Beijing and Washington have taken precautionary measures to prevent their myriad differences escalate into uncontrollable conflict.
The United States will seek “to do everything possible to prevent any miscalculation that could inadvertently lead to conflict,” the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia told reporters ahead of the meeting. East, Daniel Kristenbrink.
“China and the United States are two big countries, so it is necessary for the two countries to maintain normal exchanges,” Wang said before the meeting.
– Hard line –
Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi (left) and his American counterpart Antony Blinken on July 9, 2022 in Bali (POOL/AFP/Stefani Reynolds)
Tensions remain. Taiwan issue aside, US President Joe Biden has largely retained the substance of his predecessor Donald Trump’s hard line on China.
But in a recent speech, he made it clear that his country was not seeking to start a new ‘cold war’, although he stood by his criticisms, including accusing Beijing of genocide against the predominantly Muslim Uyghur people. .
The Biden administration is expected to soon ease some of the tariff surcharges imposed by Mr. Trump on Chinese goods, which could dampen inflation, which has become a major political handicap in the United States.
US officials are well aware that any mini-honeymoon with China could be fleeting.
Xi Jinping, China’s most powerful leader in decades, is expected to reshuffle his foreign policy team at the Communist Party Congress later this year.
But Craig Singleton, who tracks China at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, expects Xi to again appoint technocrats who can work with Washington.
“The reason is simple: China’s economy is facing considerable headwinds and Chinese policymakers seem keen to acknowledge that China’s aggressive rhetoric has backfired,” he said.
© 2022 AFP
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