One of the most important meetings between the United States and China unveiled these two days as senior officials led by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan sat down with their Chinese counterparts in Anchorage, Alaska. From what we gather so far, Sino-US competition is likely to be the dominant theme characterizing this bilateral relation forward.

Prior to this meeting, Blinken visited Japan and South Korea while Sullivan phoned Germany, France, and the United Kingdom’s national security advisers. These conversations served the purpose of informing US allies what will be conveyed in upcoming Sino-US meetings.

Meanwhile, the US laid down the law on multiple fronts. First, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) took place on March 12th. Spearheaded by Japan, the QUAD was tasked with building an alliance in response to China’s rise. In this meeting, state officials participated in the dialogue targeted initially at the ministerial level and reached multiple consensuses on maintaining the liberal international order, condemning China’s attempt to change Asia’s status quo and disregard existing international norms. To make their points clearer, the US and Japan even have another high-level meeting between heads of foreign affairs and defense on March 16th and released a joint statement. The US activism in pushing the dialogue to take place, despite China’s continuing opposition, is a clear signal of US perception of China these days.

Second, the Federal Communications Commission announced that it had designated five Chinese companies as national security threats (Huawei, ZTE, Hytera, Hangzhou HikVision Digital Technology, and Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co.). Additionally, the US commerce department has subpoenaed several Chinese companies, investigating their potential threats to national security. On the same day, FCC has also rescinded approvals for providing telecommunications services to the American public for several firms (China Union Americas, Pacific Networks, and ComNet). These actions clearly show that the US is reacting seriously and harshly to China’s attempt at infiltrating and stealing information to get ahead in the Sino-US competition.

Third, just one day before the Sino-US meeting, the Department of State, in compliance with the Hong Kong Autonomy Act passed last year, updated the sanctions of officials in Hong Kong. Twenty-four Hong Kong officials were impacted. This action also clearly shows Washington’s support for freedom and democracy in Hong Kong and voices dissent to Beijing’s involvement in Hong Kong’s elections and democracy.

Asides from these preludes, on the first day of the meeting, the United States and China were rarely quite hostile to each other on a diplomatic occasion. Blinken and Sullivan criticized China’s obstruction to the world order for about 5 minutes, followed by an 18-minute long lecture (in Mandarin without waiting for the interpretation) by Yang Jiechi, director of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission Office of the Communist Party of China, and four minutes by Wang Yi, Minister of Foreign Affairs. Yang censured the US inviting other allies to use military and financial means to oppress other countries. Yang questioned American democracy and highlighted the lack of trust in democracy among the public in the United States.

Interestingly, after the opening remarks, reporters should depart according to the plan. Although the US followed the 2-minute rule allowed for each side, China ignored it and continued for about 20 minutes. As reporters were leaving the opening ceremony,  Blinken called them back and commented candidly to rebuke Yang and Wang. He directly pointed out one major difference in values between the US and China: “We make mistakes. We, we have reversals, we take steps back. But what we’ve done throughout our history is to confront those challenges -- openly, publicly, transparently – not trying to ignore them, not trying to pretend they don’t exist,” Blinken continued. “Sometimes it’s painful. Sometimes it’s ugly. But each and every time we’ve come out stronger, better, more united, as a country.”

It is still too early to foretell the trajectories of Sino-US relations in the coming years. But from what we have witnessed so far, both sides will likely be talking past each other with no consensus in sight.

Many argue that the US and China should exchange opinions while they can, as two superpowers misreading each other’s intentions could result in catastrophic outcomes (e.g., military conflicts). From the areas of democracy, human rights, and freedom (US core values), China is now seemed hardened to walk a different path. Seen in this view, China is showing high confidence in its authoritarian political system, which also means that China will only become more repressive on issues of human rights and democracy. The situations in Hong Kong and Xinjiang will only become direr.

These incompatible values might motivate the United States to respond more aggressively, such as economic encirclement. As we have explained in a previous piece, if China continues its human rights violations, the American public will stand behind the government to respond to China. Currently, the Biden administration is patching up relationships with allies and use international institutions such as QUAD to contain China in the Indo-Pacific area. It can be expected that the US will play the role of a leader in its strategy to contain China with allies.

The emerging Cold War 2.0 is likely to stay and clearly did not dissipate after Trump left the Oval Office. In this Sino-US strategic competition, it remains a big question to see what strategies most countries would choose – following the logic of balance of power to side with China or bandwagoning with the US to strengthen its leadership.

(Yao-Yuan Yeh ([email protected]) is Associate Professor of International Studies and Chair of the Department of International Studies and Modern Languages at the University of St. Thomas, Houston. Twitter: @yeh2sctw

Fang-Yu Chen ([email protected]) is PhD in Political Science at Michigan State University. Twitter: @FangYu_80168

Austin Wang ([email protected]) is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Twitter: @wearytolove

Charles K.S. Wu ([email protected]) is PhD candidate of Political Science at Purdue University. Twitter: @kuanshengtwn)

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