China and the US must choose between cooperation and conflict. China’s top diplomat Wang Yi told Antony Blinken on Monday. The US Secretary of State has emphasized that the US does not want to separate from China.
Blinken has been in Beijing since Sunday. This is the first time a US Secretary of State has visited China since 2018. A trip planned earlier this year was canceled, mainly because an American spy balloon overran the United States.
On Sunday, Blinken met Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang. The conversation lasted for hours and was longer than planned. Wang, a senior diplomat, heads the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. He is higher in hierarchy than Qin.
During the Beijing rallies, Blinken said it was “very clear” that the United States did not want to withdraw from China. He expressed his desire to stabilize the relationship between the two superpowers and avoid getting into a competitive conflict. According to Wang, the two countries must “stop the downward spiral of their relations. China and the United States must find healthy and sustainable ways to work together again.”
He told Foreign Minister Kin Blinken that he could also go to America in due course.
Krijg meldingen bij nieuws over de VS en China
Blinken urges China to work for peace in Ukraine
Later on Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping received Blinken. Earlier, Xi said he hoped the visit would make positive contributions to bilateral relations.
Later, Blinken thanked China for its hospitality at a press conference. He said that both countries want to strengthen relations. The foreign minister has made it clear that China must work for peace in Ukraine and is concerned about China’s provocative actions in the strait between Taiwan and the mainland. The island is actually independent and enjoys support from the United States. But China sees Taiwan as a rebel province. According to Blinken, Beijing has reiterated that China will not supply arms to Russia.
Relations between China and the United States have cooled significantly in recent years. Apart from the Taiwan issue, the countries have differences of opinion on many other issues. At the same time, their economies are closely intertwined and interdependent in many ways.
It is clear that Washington and Beijing will be each other’s main rivals this century. Although Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has delayed it, the focus of US foreign policy is shifting from Europe to Asia. But that’s where China plays: as Russia’s ally and as a player looking to position itself on the world stage.
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