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Biden 'Very Proud' of Blinken After U.S.-China Talks Descend Into Bickering
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March 19, 2021
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0:36Now PlayingThe first face-to-face meeting between the U.S. and China since President Joe Biden took office was bound to be confrontational. The question now is whether the two sides can find a way to cooperate after unloading so many grievances in public.
Top diplomats from the world’s two largest economies criticized each other over everything from trade to human rights in a high-stakes first encounter Thursday in an Alaskan ballroom. U.S. Secretary of State Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Beijing of undermining global stability and vowed to raise contentious issues such as China’s actions in Hong Kong and Xinjiang. His counterpart, Yang Jiechi, replied that the U.S. wasn’t “qualified to speak to China from a position of strength.”
The barbs on both sides appeared intended for domestic consumption, with Biden seeking to show his supporters that he’s tough on China and President Xi Jinping needing to satisfy his own increasingly nationalistic population. Still, the unusually acrimonious exchange showed the world just how hard it will be to repair a relationship that deteriorated rapidly under Donald Trump.
“It’s not surprising for the Alaska meeting to start with a strong smell of gunpowder,” said Zhu Feng, a professor of international relations at Nanjing University. “It is obvious that a new equation for China-U.S. relations is emerging. That is conflict, competition and cooperation.”
The diplomatic blow-up tamped down investor sentiment in China, contributing to a slide of about 3% in China’s CSI 300. Regional shares were already under pressure following an overnight tumble on Wall Street.
The delegations are due to meet for a final time on Friday morning after two rounds of closed-door talks following their initial exchange. While it was unclear whether the private discussions were more productive, a senior U.S. administration official said the talks were “substantive, serious and direct” and went beyond the allotted time.
“Perhaps it will give the Biden administration a little bit of leeway to start actually talking about issues, to start trying to come to some common understanding with the Chinese,” William Zarit, a senior counselor at the Cohen Group and ex-U.S. minister for commercial affairs in Beijing, told Bloomberg Television. “Most of these things are really to show strength in domestic politics here in the U.S.”
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