US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the end of a two-day visit to Beijing.
Chinese President Xi Jinping held a meeting with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. Blinken became the highest-ranking US official to visit China since President Joe Biden took office in 2021. Relations between the countries in both Washington and Beijing are said to be tense, and even before the start of the visit, it was not advised to wait for any breakthroughs.
Anthony Blinken's second day in China. On Sunday, he spent a total of 7,5 hours with his immediate colleague, Minister Qin Gang. On Monday, she is meeting with another high-ranking diplomat, Wan Yi. The American media, citing anonymous sources, wrote that the State Department also hoped to meet with the President of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping. And the most important negotiations during Anthony Blinken's visit to China did take place.
In a final communiqué, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the US has a responsibility to stop the "increasing decline in Sino-US relations" and return them to normal. It also stated that in the meeting with Blinken, Wang Yi "demanded that the US stop inflating the 'China threat theory' and lift illegal unilateral sanctions against China."
In turn, the State Department said that Blinken "emphasized the importance of responsible management of competition between the United States and China through open channels of communication so that competition does not turn into conflict."
According danimi CNN, Blinken's three-hour meeting with Chinese diplomats highlighted the serious difficulties in overcoming mistrust. Wang Yi once again accused Washington of "misperception" of China, which is the "root cause" of the deterioration of relations between the two sides, demanded that the United States stop "suppressing" China's technological development, and reiterated that Taiwan is one of China's "core interests" in terms of which has no room for compromise or retreat."
He added that Blinken's visit came at a "critical moment in US-China relations, when a choice must be made between dialogue or confrontation, cooperation or conflict."
US State Department noted, that Blinken emphasized the importance of diplomacy and maintaining open channels of communication on all issues "to reduce the risk of misperceptions and miscalculations," and also raised the issue of exploring the possibility of cooperation with the PRC in joint transnational issues where the countries' interests coincide.
Both the representatives of China and the representatives of the United States called these frank.
"The Chinese side has made its position clear, and both sides have agreed to abide by the joint agreements reached by President Biden and me in Bali," Xi Jinping said.
He added that the parties also made progress and reached agreement on some specific issues. Xi emphasized that the interaction between the states "should always be based on mutual respect and sincerity."
"I hope that through this visit, Secretary Blinken will be able to make a positive contribution to the stabilization of China-US relations," Xi said.
His visit is expected to mark the beginning of a new round of visits by high-ranking US and Chinese officials. Blinken's talks with Chinese officials are seen as a key litmus test for de-escalating tensions.
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