HONG KONG — Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday, the second and final day of a high-stakes visit aimed at easing escalating tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
Blinken’s trip to China is the first by a US secretary of state since 2018. He is also the highest-ranking US official to visit China since President Joe Biden took office.
His talks with Xi—seen as key to the trip’s success—were expected but not confirmed by either side until shortly before it was scheduled to begin.
In remarks before their 35-minute meeting in the Great Hall of the People, Xi said Blinken had “frank and in-depth discussions” with other top Chinese officials. He said the two sides “made progress and reached agreement on some specific issues.”
“I hope Secretary Blinken, through this visit, will make positive contributions to the stability of Sino-US relations,” Xi said.
Blinken said Biden asked him to travel to China “because he believes the United States and China have an obligation to responsibly manage our relationship.”
The United States is committed to that. “It’s in the interest of the United States, in the interest of China, and in the interest of the world,” Blinken said.
“I appreciate the opportunity to discuss the way forward with you,” he said to Xi.
Blinken meetings with Shi et al It is expected to touch on a number of areas of contention, including trade, Taiwan, human rights, China’s military aggression in the South China Sea and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Blinken met earlier with Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat, and Chinese Foreign Minister Chen Gang.
State Department officials said the two countries were unlikely to reach any breakthroughs during Blinken’s flight, which was originally scheduled for February but was delayed after a suspected Chinese spy balloon was discovered over US soil.
While China has emphasized the importance of resuming high-level contacts, it has also expressed less enthusiasm before Blinken’s visit this week than before the previous trip was delayed.
But it may lay the groundwork for a meeting later this year between Biden and Xi, who last met in Indonesia last November on the sidelines of a G20 summit of major economies.
Biden told reporters on Saturday that he hopes to meet with Xi in the coming months to discuss “the legitimate differences we have but also how there are areas we can live with.”
After his arrival Sunday, Blinken met with Chen, China’s foreign minister, for talks both sides described as “frank” and “constructive.” Those talks lasted about six hours, followed by a two-hour business dinner, according to senior State Department officials.
The two countries said Chen, who was formerly the Chinese ambassador to the United States, accepted an invitation from Blinken to visit the United States at a mutually convenient time.
Then Blinken had a three-hour meeting on Monday with Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat, that sounded a little more divided.
Wang blamed the United States’ “misperception” of China for the poor relations between the two countries, and said Washington should choose “between dialogue and confrontation, cooperation and conflict.”
He said it is important to reverse the “downward spiral” in the relationship, return it to a healthy and stable track and “together explore the right path for China and the United States to get along with each other in the new era.”
Wang demanded the United States lift sanctions on Chinese entities and stop suppressing Chinese technological development, referring to US export controls on semiconductor technology. He also stressed China’s position on Taiwan, a self-governing democracy that Beijing claims as its territory and whose status is one of the biggest flashpoints in US-China relations.
China has accused the United States, Taiwan’s most important international backer, of promoting Taiwan’s independence through official exchanges between the island’s president and senior US officials such as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her successor Kevin McCarthy. The Biden administration denies that US policy on Taiwan has changed.
On the issue of Taiwan, the statement said, “China has no room for compromise or concession.”
Blinken “stressed the importance of responsible management of competition between the United States and [China] “Through open channels of communication to ensure that competition does not veer into conflict,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
The Secretary also emphasized that “the United States will continue to use diplomacy to raise areas of concern and defend the interests and values of the American people.”
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