Blinken defends “important face-to-face diplomacy” while Beijing speaks of a “critical moment” for relations between the two countries
June 19 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, met this Monday in Beijing with Wang Yi, the main foreign policy adviser to Chinese President Xi Jinping, who stressed that the visit takes place “at a critical time” for relations bilateral.
Blinken praised in a message on his Twitter account that “important face-to-face diplomacy in Beijing continues” and said that the meeting with Wang addressed “a range of bilateral and global issues that affect the people at home and around the world.
Wang stressed that “it is necessary to choose between dialogue and confrontation, between cooperation and conflict”, before abounding that “History always advances and relations between China and the United States will eventually do so”, according to a statement published by the Chinese Foreign Ministry on its website.
“There is no way to turn your back on the wheel of history, and it is even less advisable to start anew. With a responsible attitude towards people, history and the world, we must reverse the downward spiral of Sino-US relations, push for a return to a healthy and stable path and work together to find a right path for China and the United States to get along in the new era,” he stressed.
Thus, he has argued that the main problems “are rooted in a misperception of China by the United States, which leads to misguided policies towards China.” “Sino-US relations have experienced ups and downs, and the United States needs to reflect deeply and work with China to jointly manage differences and avoid strategic surprises,” she noted.
Wang stressed that “in order for Sino-US relations to stop declining and stabilize, the top priority is to really implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state,” before elaborating on the need to “follow the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation proposed by Xi.”
In this sense, it has stressed that “the historical logic and the inevitable trend of development and revitalization of China has introduced distinctive characteristics of the Chinese modernization style and rich connotations of popular democracy during the process”, for which it has asked Washington “not to look at China from the position that a firm country should seek hegemony.”
“This is key so that US policy towards China can truly return to objectivity and rationality,” he said, before calling on Washington to “stop whipping up the Chinese threat theory, to withdraw its illegal unilateral sanctions, to stop repressing China’s technological development and avoid intentionally interfering in its internal affairs”, with special emphasis on the situation around Taiwan.
In this way, he has abounded that “safeguarding national unity will always be at the center of China’s main interests” and added that “in this matter there is no room for compromise.” “The United States must truly adhere to the ‘one China’ principle set out in three Sino-US joint communiques, respect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and clearly oppose ‘Taiwan independence,'” he stressed.
The meeting between Blinken and Wang took place after the US Secretary of State held a “long, frank, deep and constructive” meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Friday, in which both parties decided to continue the high-level contacts between the two countries.
Blinken arrived in Beijing on Sunday to defuse tensions between the two countries, sparked mainly by US support for Taiwan and Chinese military maneuvers around the island in response, as well as recent speculation of spying attempts by Chinese part.
For his part, US President Joe Biden said on Saturday that he hopes to meet with Xi in the coming months, noting that Chinese leaders do not appear to be aware of details about the Chinese hot air balloon shot down in the United States in February. “China has some legitimate difficulties that have nothing to do with the United States,” he said.
