Chinese President Xi Jinping told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday (June 19) that he hoped the American diplomat’s visit to China would stabilise ties between Beijing and Washington. Xi, who met Blinken in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, said, “I hope that through this visit, Mr Secretary, you will make more positive contributions to stabilizing China-US relations,” the news agency Reuters reported.
Following the meeting, Xi also said that US and China made progress on many issues. “The Chinese side has made our position clear and the two sides have agreed to follow through the common understandings President Biden and I had reached in Bali,” the Chinese president told Blinken.
Blinken first US state secretary to meet Xi since 2018
Antony Blinken became the first US secretary of state to meet the Chinese President since 2018. This 10-hour meeting comes after Blinken held extensive discussions with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi on Monday, and foreign minister Qin Gang on Sunday.
During over three hours of talks with Blinken, Wang described the US-China relationship as being at a low point and said the reason for this was Washington’s wrong perception of Beijing.
“We must take a responsible attitude toward the people, history and the world, and reverse the downward spiral of U.S.-China relations,” Wang said during his meeting with the US secretary of State, according to a statement released by China’s foreign ministry.
The top Chinese diplomat urged the US to stop speculating on threats from China, abandon its “suppression” of China’s scientific and technological development, and refrain from interfering in its internal affairs.
During the meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Gang, Blinken stressed “the need to reduce the risk of misperception and miscalculation.”
Blinken’s visit to pave way for more bilateral meetings
Though American officials had been playing down the prospect of a major breakthrough in talks during Blinken’s China visit, they expected that the visit would pave the way for more bilateral meetings in coming months, including possible trips by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
The concerns of the officials came following a security call between Blinken and Gang, where the Chinese foreign minister urged the US to stop meddling in China’s affairs and harming its security.
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