Chinese President Xi Jinping told Secretary of State Antony Blinken it was \u201cvery good\u201d the U.S. and China had made progress in steadying bilateral ties between the world\u2019s two largest economies during his trip to Beijing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope that through this visit, Mr. Secretary, you will make more positive contributions to stabilizing China-U.S. relations,\u201d Xi told the US diplomat on Monday, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe two sides have also made progress and reached agreements on some specific issues. This is very good,\u201d he said without elaborating, according to a transcript of the meeting published by the U.S. State Department.<\/p>\n
Blinken told the Chinese leader it was in the \u201cinterest of the world\u201d to steady ties, and described conversations with high-level officials during his trip as \u201ccandid\u201d and \u201cproductive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying attended the meeting, along with other senior officials including U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns and Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang.<\/p>\n
The positive tone emerging from Blinken\u2019s high-stakes visit to Beijing will raise expectations relations between the two superpowers can reach a more stable footing, as U.S. allies and some of China\u2019s largest trading partners get caught in the cross-fire of ruptured ties. <\/p>\n
Blinken\u2019s meeting with Xi also lays the groundwork for in-person Xi-Biden talks later this year. On Sunday, Qin accepted an invitation to visit Washington, the State Department said, after 7 1\/2 hours of talks with Blinken that both sides described as \u201cproductive\u201d and \u201ccandid.\u201d <\/p>\n
Henry Wang, founder of the Center for China and Globalization, said Blinken\u2019s visit would be a catalyst for more bilateral interactions between the two nations. U.S. President Joe Biden said Saturday he\u2019s \u201choping that over the next several months I\u2019ll be meeting Xi again.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBlinken sets the stage for future interactions between different levels of government, the business community and academia and research,\u201d Wang added. \u201cHe\u2019s brought a period of stabilization, of easing tensions for at least the second half of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
U.S.-China relations crashed to their lowest point in decades in February after an alleged Chinese spy balloon floated through US air space, causing Blinken to cancel a trip to Beijing. Since then, the Biden administration been working to restore ties with China to reduce the risk of a miscommunication igniting a conflict between the two nuclear-armed powers. <\/p>\n
Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu has declined to meet with his U.S. counterpart Lloyd Austin until Washington lifts sanctions against him. The US and Chinese militaries recently had two confrontations between naval vessels and jets in the region, which the Pentagon characterized as \u201cdangerous,\u201d highlighting the dangers of not talking.<\/p>\n
Xi also has reasons to want to cool tensions. Beijing is facing an increasingly challenging geopolitical landscape, as the U.S. blocks China\u2019s access to high-tech chips to thwart its military progress and puts pressure on Xi to condemn Putin\u2019s invasion of Ukraine. Geopolitical strains are also deterring foreign investment as China\u2019s economy faces domestic headwinds.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe economy in China is not in great shape,\u201d George Magnus, a research associate at Oxford University\u2019s China Centre, told Bloomberg TV. \u201cHe wants to appeal and be seen to be constructive to Global South partners.\u201d<\/p>\n
The most senior U.S. official to visit China in five years, Blinken is making his trip at a tumultuous time, with the two sides sparring over everything from human rights and technology to trade and weapons sales to Taiwan. <\/p>\n
On Sunday, China\u2019s foreign minister told Blinken that Taiwan is \u201cthe core of the core interests\u201d of China and \u201cthe most prominent risk\u201d in China-U.S. ties. China\u2019s top diplomat Wang Yi added on Monday that there could be \u201cno compromise\u201d over the island, which Beijing considers a breakaway territory it must reclaim by force if necessary. <\/p>\n
Wang told Blinken during a three-hour meeting on Monday that his visit had come at a \u201ccritical\u201d juncture in U.S.-China ties, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement. <\/p>\n
Blinken\u2019s visit became one of the top ten trending topics on China\u2019s Twitter-like Weibo after Xi\u2019s comments on Monday afternoon, with related hashtags getting millions of views. Under photos of Xi shaking hands with Blinken, some users called for U.S.-China relations to \u201creturn to the right track.\u201d<\/p>\n
That response was in contrast to the beginning of Blinken\u2019s visit when Weibo users pointed out the U.S. official was greeted by red lines on the tarmac rather than a red carpet, and Chinese state media gave his trip muted coverage.<\/p>\n
While Xi did not specify what agreements Blinken had reached in China, there were already signs of progress on tangible matters from earlier meetings. <\/p>\n
On Sunday, both sides said they\u2019d discussed increasing flights between the two countries, many of which were scrapped during the coronavirus pandemic. They also agreed to encourage educational exchanges, China\u2019s Foreign Ministry said in a statement, a sign more student visas could be forthcoming. <\/p>\n
Xi told Blinken that he believed the two nations could overcome their difficulties to find a way to get along based on mutual respect, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday. He added that China hopes to achieve a sounds and steady relationship with the U.S.<\/p>\n
Drew Thompson, a visiting senior research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, said that while Xi\u2019s comments were positive, it remained to be seen how the U.S. side would interpret the two-day mission. <\/p>\n
\u201cCompared to March when Xi was lambasting the United States by name, the cordial tone can be considered positive,\u201d said Thompson. \u201cBut how Xi defines \u2018making progress\u2019 and how the U.S. defines it is likely very different.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014With assistance from Zhu Lin, Lucille Liu, Jing Li and Ishika Mookerjee.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n