The United States and China have failed to overcome their most serious disagreements but were able to discuss them in a potentially constructive way and have agreed to continue talks, US officials have said.
The officials said US secretary of state Antony Blinken was able, during a nearly six-hour meeting, to secure a visit to Washington by Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang. But they said progress on other issues remained a work in progress.
Mr Blinken, the highest-level American official to visit China since US president Joe Biden took office, will have more senior level contacts with Chinese counterparts on Monday, including potentially with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Despite Mr Blinken’s presence in the Chinese capital and the relatively upbeat assessment of Sunday’s meeting, the prospects for any significant breakthrough on the most vexing issues facing the planet’s two largest economies remain slim.
Mr Blinken’s trip follows his postponement of plans to visit China in February after the shooting down of a Chinese surveillance balloon over the US.
His talks could pave the way for a meeting in the coming months between Mr Biden and Mr Xi.
He finished the first of two days of high-stakes diplomatic talks in Beijing aimed at trying to cool tensions that have set many around the world on edge.
The list of disagreements and potential conflict points is long, ranging from trade with Taiwan, human rights conditions in China and Hong Kong, to Chinese military assertiveness in the South China Sea and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Mr Blinken also pressed the Chinese to release detained American citizens and take steps to curb the production and export of fentanyl precursors that were fuelling the opioid crisis in the US.
US officials said Mr Blinken posed each of these points, though neither side had shown any inclination to back down on their entrenched positions.
Shortly before leaving Washington, Mr Blinken emphasised the importance of the US and China establishing and maintaining better lines of communication.
The US wanted to make sure “that the competition we have with China doesn’t veer into conflict” due to avoidable misunderstandings, he told reporters.
Mr Biden and Mr Xi had made commitments to improve communications “precisely so that we can make sure we are communicating as clearly as possible to avoid possible misunderstandings and miscommunications”, Mr Blinken said on Friday.
Mr Xi offered a hint of a possible willingness to reduce tensions, saying in a meeting with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on Friday that the United States and China could co-operate to “benefit our two countries”.
“I believe that the foundation of Sino/US relations lies in the people,” Mr Xi said to Mr Gates.
Today, I met with People’s Republic of China State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Beijing and discussed how we can responsibly manage the relationship between our two countries through open channels of communication. pic.twitter.com/dPkd0aWQ5J
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) June 18, 2023
“Under the current world situation, we can carry out various activities that benefit our two countries, the people of our countries, and the entire human race.”
Since the cancellation of Mr Blinken’s trip in February, there have been some high-level engagements. CIA chief William Burns travelled to China in May, while China’s commerce minister travelled to the US. And Mr Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Mr Wang in Vienna in May.
But these have been punctuated by bursts of angry rhetoric from both sides over the Taiwan Strait, their broader intentions in the Indo-Pacific, China’s refusal to condemn Russia for its war against Ukraine, and US allegations from Washington that Beijing was attempting to boost its worldwide surveillance capabilities, including in Cuba.
