President Xi Jinping warned America\u2019s top diplomat that the U.S. shouldn\u2019t target or oppose China, as the world\u2019s largest economies wrapped two days of talks spanning thorny disputes on trade and Beijing\u2019s support for Russia\u2019s war machine.<\/p>\n
The Chinese leader met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Beijing on Friday afternoon, as the two superpowers continued dialogue to manage a growing list of differences. While the substance of talks was confrontational, both sides refrained from the sharpest rhetoric. They also announced a new working group on artificial intelligence to start in the coming weeks, bolstering expectations for keeping ties steady.<\/p>\n
\u201cChina and the United States should be partners rather than rivals,\u201d Xi told Blinken, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement. The two sides should \u201cseek common ground and reserve differences, rather than engage in vicious competition,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Blinken\u2019s harshest criticisms were reserved for Beijing\u2019s support of Russian aggression in Ukraine. China is the top supplier of military machine tools and a compound used in munitions and rocket propellant, he said. \u201cRussia would struggle to sustain its assault on Ukraine without China\u2019s support,\u201d he added, noting that the U.S. was ready to impose additional sanctions on Chinese firms. <\/p>\n
Since Blinken last visited Beijing 10 months ago at what he called a time of \u201cprofound tensions\u201d \u2014 after the U.S. shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon \u2014 leaders of both nations have pledged to keep ties on a more secure footing. An American election campaign, in which Beijing is a top target on all sides of the ballot, is now adding fresh volatility to the relationship.<\/p>\n
President Joe Biden signed a law that could expel TikTok \u2014 owned by China\u2014based ByteDance Ltd. \u2014 from the U.S. as Blinken headed to China, days after vowing new tariffs on the Asian nation. The U.S. leader has also imposed a slew of trade curbs to block Beijing\u2019s access to advanced chips citing national security concerns.<\/p>\n
Blinken signaled more trade tensions ahead, emphasizing that the issue of Chinese manufacturing overcapacity was now \u201cfront and center\u201d of the relationship. \u201cThis is a movie that we\u2019ve seen before and we know how it ends \u2014 with American businesses shuttered and American jobs lost,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
China\u2019s Foreign Minister Wang Yi accused the U.S. of taking \u201cendless measures to suppress China\u2019s economy,\u201d during five-and-a-half hours of talks with Blinken, which included a working lunch. \u201cThis is not fair competition, but containment \u2014 and it is not removing risks, but creating risks,\u201d he added, noting while things were broadly stable \u201cnegative factors\u201d in the relationship were rising.<\/p>\n
Diplomatic visits between the two rivals are becoming \u201cTrojan horses\u201d to emphasize differences, according to Josef Gregory Mahoney, a professor of international relations at Shanghai\u2019s East China Normal University.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis appears to be what the U.S. has in mind with guardrails,\u201d he added. \u201cIt helps stabilize relations and to prevent the sort of dangerous tipping points experienced last year while still marching toward a Cold War paradigm.\u201d<\/p>\n
The U.S. is rallying the European Union to forge a common front against China\u2019s industrial policy, with Treasury Chief Janet Yellen warning leaders in Beijing this month that its cheap exports were a concern for the world \u2014 a sentiment German Chancellor Olaf Scholz repeated on a trip to the Asian nation days later.<\/p>\n
Yellen also raised the prospect of fresh sanctions on Chinese financial institutions that the U.S. says are helping to prop up Russia\u2019s defense industrial base, with the U.S. reportedly already drafting such measures. <\/p>\n
Blinken touted to Xi the progress made on military communication, after both nation\u2019s defense ministers recently held their first call, as well as counter-narcotics cooperation. He also urged Beijing to use its influence to press Iran and limit conflict in Middle East during meetings with Chinese leaders.<\/p>\n
Other flashpoints in the relationship such as peace around self-ruled Taiwan, which the Chinese Communist Party considers its territory, and Beijing\u2019s \u201cdangerous\u201d military activity in the South China Sea also featured in talks, according to the U.S. readouts. <\/p>\n
Blinken devoted half of his trip to more relaxed engagements in Shanghai on Thursday. Those included attending a basketball game, eating dinner at a dumpling restaurant, taking a stroll along the colonial-era riverfront and addressing U.S. and Chinese students at a local New York University campus.<\/p>\n
Few concrete deliverables were expected from the U.S. diplomat\u2019s trip. But overall it showed the two countries both want to avoid an escalation of conflict, said Allen Carlson, associate professor in Cornell University\u2019s Department of Government.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have also tacitly acknowledged that as a result of their ongoing economic interdependence that they also still need each other,\u201d he added. \u201cBut beyond such general points there is little that they agree on.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014With assistance from Lucille Liu, Josh Xiao, Colum Murphy and Siuming Ho.<\/p>\n
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