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Plain speaking from the get-go in first talks between top China, US diplomats

蘋果日報 2021/03/19 13:24


Temperatures ran high on Thursday at the first top-level diplomatic meeting between the United States and China since U.S. President Joe Biden took office two months ago.
From the word go, each side gave as good as it got in Alaska’s biggest city Anchorage, at talks that were scheduled to last for two days.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed Chinese actions were threatening world stability and vowed that Washington would strengthen the law-based global order. Yang Jiechi, the foreign affairs chief of China’s Communist Party, hit back at the U.S.’ incitement of some countries to attack China and its abuse of the concept of national security to threaten global trade.
Yang also reiterated that Hong Kong, Taiwan and Xinjiang were all inalienable parts of China.
“There is no way to strangle China,” Yang said. He criticized the condescension displayed by Blinken and other U.S. officials, and said that Beijing would not accept unwarranted accusations from Washington.
Earlier, in his opening remarks, Blinken said that his side would discuss Washington’s “deep concerns” about Beijing’s actions in those three regions, cyber attacks carried out by the Chinese on American networks, and their economic coercion of U.S. allies. He said that these were not merely internal matters of China, but were issues which the U.S. felt an obligation to raise in the meeting.
Blinken made direct references to human rights issues in China, saying that the administration of Joe Biden would unite with its allies in pushing back against the increasing authoritarianism and assertive policies of the Chinese.
Jake Sullivan, national security adviser of the White House, at the opening said the U.S. was not seeking conflict with China and in fact welcomed the competition, but that it would stick to its principles and support allies.
Yang rebuffed the Americans with a 10-minute speech in the Chinese language. The U.S. was making use of its military and economic might to oppress other countries, he said.
The top Chinese diplomat urged the U.S. to abandon the Cold War mentality and attitude of conflict, saying that Beijing’s view of its relations with Washington was as what Chinese President Xi Jinping had described, without confrontation and with hopes of mutual respect and win-win cooperation.
Blinken seemed taken aback by the tone and lengthy comments of Yang, Associated Press reported.
Yang further demanded that the U.S. stop promoting its own version of democracy to the world at a time when the country itself needed to change its image.
“Many people within the U.S. actually have little confidence in the democracy of the U.S.,” Yang claimed.
He also rebuked the U.S. for interfering in China’s internal affairs, such as developments in Hong Kong, by imposing sanctions on 24 Hong Kong and mainland Chinese officials on Tuesday. He said that the U.S.-Sino relations had entered a period of unprecedented difficulty that had damaged the interests of people from both sides.
Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign affairs minister, said his delegation was in Alaska under the invitation of the Washington government to hold the talks, and that if the U.S. announced any new sanctions on China, it would not be showing hospitality.
In his response to Yang, Blinken said that he had arrived at entirely different impressions from speaking with Yang and with other governments, including in his recent trip to Japan and South Korea.
“I’m hearing deep satisfaction that the United States is back, that we’re reengaged,” Blinken said. “I’m also hearing deep concern about some of the actions your government is taking.”
Separately, the Department of State issued a statement criticizing the opening remarks of China. The Chinese delegates breached the protocol of limiting their public speech to two minutes, the department said, and suggested that it “seemed to have arrived intent on grandstanding, focused on public theatrics and dramatics over substance,” Associated Press reported.
“America’s approach will be undergirded by confidence in our dealing with Beijing — which we are doing from a position of strength — even as we have the humility to know that we are a country eternally striving to become a more perfect union,” the department said.
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