President Joe Biden emphasized the importance of managing competition in the relationship responsibly and maintaining open lines of communication as he met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi ahead of a potential meeting with President Xi Jinping next month to reset bilateral ties.
President Biden met Wang at the White House on Friday, following extensive discussions with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
Wang’s visit is intended to pave the way for Biden and Chinese President Xi to meet at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in San Francisco in mid-November.
In a statement, the White House stated, “The President emphasized that both the United States and China need to manage competition in the relationship responsibly and maintain open lines of communication. He underscored that the United States and China must work together to address global challenges”.
According to a readout of the meeting, Sullivan and Wang had honest, constructive, and substantial conversations on major challenges in the US-China bilateral relationship, including the Israel-Hamas conflict, Russia’s war against Ukraine, and cross-Strait difficulties.
Sullivan raised concerns about China’s harmful and illegal behavior in the South China Sea during the meeting. He emphasized the significance of Taiwan Strait peace and stability.
China regards Taiwan as a rebel province that must be reunified with the mainland, even if it means using force. China has been carrying out provocative military drills surrounding the self-ruled island.
“The two sides reaffirmed their desire to maintain this strategic channel of communication and to pursue additional high-level diplomacy, including working together towards a meeting between President Biden and President Xi Jinping in San Francisco in November”, the statement reads.
Speaking for the State Department, Matthew Miller stated that Blinken and Wang talked about a variety of bilateral, regional, and international topics, including resolving differences and looking into potential areas of cooperation.
“The Secretary reiterated that the United States will continue to stand up for our interests and values and those of our allies and partners”, stated the Secretary of State.
During the Trump administration, the relationship between the world’s two largest economies began to deteriorate. Former President Donald Trump signed an executive order in 2018 authorizing retaliatory tariffs on up to $60 billion in Chinese goods.
The United States and China have one of the most important and complex bilateral ties in the world. Since 1949, the countries have gone through phases of friction and collaboration on topics such as trade, climate change, the South China Sea, Taiwan, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Biden administration has attempted to re-establish normal diplomatic relations with China following an extremely tense time, most notably the Chinese surveillance balloon incident in February.
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