Beijing:

China is willing to cooperate with the United States, but the cooperation should be a “two-way street”, Chinese President Xi Jinping told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during the meeting in Beijing on Friday.

Stating that the multiplicity and complexity of the challenges globally require the US and China to work together, President Xi affirmed that Beijing and Washington should be partners rather than rivals.

“China is willing to cooperate, but cooperation should be a two-way street. China is not afraid of competition, but competition should be about progressing together instead of playing a zero-sum game. China is committed to non-alliance, and the US should not create small blocs. While each side can have its friends and partners, it should not target, oppose or harm the other,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

China welcomes a confident, open, prosperous and thriving US, and hopes the US will also look at China’s development in a positive light, it added.

“Over the past 45 years, the relationship has gone through wind and rain, and the two sides can draw a few important lessons: China and the United States should be partners rather than rivals; help each other succeed rather than hurt each other; seek common ground and reserve differences rather than engage in vicious competition; and honour words with actions rather than say one thing but do another,” the statement further read.

President Xi further affirmed hope that both countries will continue working actively to truly stabilize, improve and move forward the bilateral relations.

“As a Chinese saying goes, “No progress means regress.” It also applies to China-US relations. It is hoped that the two teams will continue working actively to follow through on the San Francisco vision, so as to truly stabilize, improve and move forward the bilateral relations,” Xi was quoted as saying.

Blinken noted that since President Biden and President Xi met in San Francisco, the US and China have made good progress in their cooperation in such areas as bilateral interactions, counter-narcotics, artificial intelligence and people-to-people exchanges. The multiplicity and complexity of the challenges the world faces require the “US and China working together,” the statement added.

The visit aims to shore up the fractious relationship between the two countries despite disputes over the economy, national security, and geopolitical frictions, according to the New York Times.

The US State Department in its statement, said that the US and China had “in-depth, substantive, and constructive discussions” on key priorities in the bilateral relationship and on a range of regional and global issues.

Secretary Blinken emphasized that the US will continue to use diplomacy to make progress in areas of difference and areas of cooperation that matter to the American people and the world as part of responsibly managing competition with the PRC (China).

He also pressed for continued progress in implementing the leaders’ Woodside Summit commitments on key issues, including advancing counternarcotics cooperation to disrupt the global flow of synthetic drugs – including fentanyl and their precursor chemicals – into the United States, enhancing military-to-military communication to avoid miscalculation and conflict, and launching talks on managing the risk and safety challenges posed by advanced forms of artificial intelligence, the State Department added.

Earlier on April 24, Blinken, who is on his second visit to China this year said that he was in China “to make progress on issues that matter most to the American people, including curbing fentanyl trafficking.”

Blinken’s visit follows a visit to China by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen earlier this month.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

China’s top diplomat voiced hope Thursday for more stable relations with the United States after months of turbulence as he paid a rare trip to Washington to prepare a potential visit by President Xi Jinping.

President Joe Biden has invited Xi to San Francisco to participate in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, but he has also stood firm on China in the run-up, keeping up a stream of targeted sanctions and staunchly backing US allies in disputes with Beijing.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi began by meeting Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who told his guest that he looked forward to “constructive conversations” that will include a dinner and more formal talks.

Wang told Blinken, who paid a visit to Beijing in June, that China wanted to “reduce misunderstanding.”

“We seek to expand cooperation that will benefit both sides so that we can stabilize US-China relations and return them to the track of healthy, stable and sustainable development,” Wang said.

Acknowledging that differences will still come up, Wang said that China hoped to respond “calmly, because we are of the view that what is right and what is wrong is not determined by who has the stronger arm or the louder voice.”

On Friday, Wang will speak at the White House with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. No meeting has been announced with Biden, but an encounter is widely expected after Xi received Blinken in Beijing.

US officials have repeatedly spoken of creating “guardrails” with China to prevent worst-case scenarios and have sought, without success, to restore contact between the two militaries.

“We’re going to compete with China (in) every way according to the international rules — economically, politically, in other ways. But I’m not looking for conflict,” Biden said Wednesday as he welcomed Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Biden also warned China of US treaty obligations to the Philippines, which said that Chinese vessels deliberately hit Manila’s boats in dispute-rife waters — an account contested by Beijing.

Tensions have been particularly high over Taiwan, the self-ruling democracy claimed by Beijing which over the past year has launched major military exercises in response to actions by US lawmakers.

China’s defense ministry on Thursday accused Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party of pushing the island toward a “dangerous situation of war.”

– What are ‘stable’ ties? –

Robert Daly, director of the Wilson Center’s Kissinger Institute on China and the United States, said Wang will likely seek assurances that the Biden administration will not “embarrass” Xi if he comes to San Francisco, either through harsh new policies or public comments.

“They would like to have a smooth glide path and then a smooth exit from the meeting,” he said.

Daly said the two powers had very different views on what “stable” ties mean, with the United States having no intention of changing course from viewing China as a threat and applying pressure.

“By stabilization, we mean that we want to be able to do that without greatly increasing the chance of conflict,” Daly said.

“The Chinese view is that stabilization would mean America ceasing this relentless stream of provocations and insults such that China is free to focus on its extremely weak domestic economy,” he said.

The Biden administration in recent months has tightened export curbs on chips to China, stepped up military support for Taiwan and issued sanctions targeting individual Chinese over support for Iran’s drone program and over production of chemicals that make fentanyl, the painkiller behind an addiction epidemic in the United States.

Biden has also championed alliances in the face of China’s rise. He has forged a new three-way military alliance with Australia and Britain and promoted the “Quad” with Australia, India and Japan.

The United States and China have also traded barbs over the conflict in the Middle East, where Biden has been Israel’s foremost ally.

The diplomacy with China comes as the United States enters an election season in which Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump, who is seeking to return to the White House, has made hawkish criticism of Beijing a signature policy.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks during a news conference in Beijing, Oct. 18, 2023. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will come to Washington for a three-day visit starting Thursday. It’s the latest move by the two countries to keep high-level talks open as the U.S. contends with China’s rise as a global power.
| Photo Credit: AP

China’s top diplomat Wang Yi will travel to the United States later this week, senior Biden administration officials said on Monday, in a long-anticipated visit that comes amid soaring tensions in the Middle East, which U.S. officials hope Beijing can help contain.

Mr. Wang will visit Washington from Oct. 26-28 and meet with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and President Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, officials said, declining to say if he will meet with Mr. Biden as well.

The trip will be the highest-level in-person engagement ahead of an expected meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in San Francisco in November. It is also the long-awaited reciprocal visit after several top U.S. officials including Mr. Blinken visited Beijing this summer.

Also Read | U.S., China pledge to improve relations, resume high-level talks after Blinken’s visit

Washington’s top priority has been to ensure the intense competition between the world’s two largest economies and their disagreements over a host of issues from trade to Taiwan and the South China Sea does not veer into conflict.

“We continue to believe that direct face-to-face diplomacy is the best way to raise challenging issues, address misperception and miscommunication, and explore working with the Chinese where our interests intersect,” said one official, who briefed reporters on the trip on condition of anonymity.

The visit also comes as Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks and Israel’s response dominate global headlines, even as Russia’s war in Ukraine grinds on.

Washington is sending military aid to Israel and Ukraine, while Beijing has grown closer to Russia since the Ukraine war began and has called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

The Israel-Hamas war and Russia’s war in Ukraine would both be discussed, a second official said, adding that the U.S. would “push the Chinese to take a more constructive approach on both.”

Also Read | Xi Jinping tells top senator U.S.-China relations impact ‘destiny of mankind’

Washington has placed importance on China’s ability to influence Iran. Mr. Blinken, during his whirlwind trip last week to the Middle East, held a phone call with Mr. Wang asking him to use Beijing’s clout in the region to ensure the conflict does not widen.

China has consistently called for restraint and a ceasefire in response to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza following the Hamas attacks that killed 1,400 Israelis but has also sharpened its criticism of Israel.

Territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas would also be on the agenda during Wang’s visit, the U.S. officials said, adding that Washington was deeply concerned by China’s “destabilizing and dangerous actions” in the South China Sea.

The Philippines, a U.S. ally, on Monday accused Chinese coastguard vessels of “intentionally” colliding with its vessels on a resupply mission, in the most serious incident yet in the waters around the disputed Second Thomas shoal.

Re-establishing military-to-military ties with China remains a top U.S. priority, the officials said, adding that meant sustained communications down the ranks and that China’s apparent lack of a Defense Minister would not be an obstacle.

Defense Minister Li Shangfu has not been seen in public for nearly two months amid a corruption probe.