Diplomatic Ceasefire by the Great Wall of China

Diplomatic Ceasefire by the Great Wall of China

Washington: We Do Not Support Taiwan’s Independence

Diplomatic Ceasefire by the Great Wall of China: According to Iran Gate, the U.S. Secretary of State is the highest-ranking government official to visit China since Joe Biden became President. Xi Jinping evaluated this meeting and session very positively and said both sides have made progress and agreed on some specific issues. This unexpected meeting elevates the diplomatic mission of Antony Blinken, the U.S. Secretary of State, to its peak.

According to Chinese media, this meeting lasted about half an hour and led to openings between the two countries. Based on official Chinese media reports, Xi Jinping announced after the talks with Blinken that the Chinese side has clarified its position, and both sides agreed to pursue the understandings reached by President Biden on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali.

Xi Jinping said, ‘We hope that both sides converge on a stable relationship,’ and asked the United States to adopt a rational approach and act responsibly. Xi further emphasized that the parties have made progress and reached common ground on some specific points, evaluating this progress as very positive. He expressed hope that Secretary of State Blinken’s visit would result in a positive outcome for stabilizing China-U.S. relations.

Blinken responded by stating that maintaining bilateral relations is a duty for both China and the United States, a commitment respected by the U.S. government. He then clarified that Washington supports the One China principle and considers the island an inseparable part of China’s territory. The U.S. Secretary of State expressed concerns about provocative actions in the Taiwan Strait as well as in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong, stating that there are many issues on which we deeply disagree.

Regarding the Russia-Ukraine war, Blinken received assurances that Beijing claimed it does not and will not provide weapons to Russia. The Secretary of State added that so far, we have found no evidence contradicting Beijing’s claim. However, what still concerns us is the potential supply of technology by Chinese companies to Russia, which could be used for further aggression against Ukraine, and we have asked the Chinese government to be very vigilant about this issue.

China, which declares itself neutral in the conflict, calls for respect for the principle of state sovereignty, including Ukraine, but has never publicly condemned Russia’s aggression. Before meeting Xi, Blinken first met with Foreign Minister Qin Gang and then with Wang Yi, the head of the Communist Party of China’s Central Committee’s Foreign Affairs Commission.

China: No Compromise with the U.S. over Taiwan

Blinken is the first high-ranking U.S. diplomat to visit China in five years amid chilly bilateral relations and a not-so-positive outlook for achieving success in the long list of disputes between the world’s two largest economies. After postponing his trip in February due to a Chinese spy balloon flying over U.S. airspace, Blinken is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit China since Joe Biden became President in January 2021.

Meetings between the U.S. Secretary of State and Chinese officials did not occur solely in a friendly tone. In a meeting with Wang Yi, China’s chief diplomat, Blinken was emphasized that Beijing will make no compromise over Taiwan.

Wang also told Blinken that maintaining national unity is always at the core of China’s fundamental interests and that Beijing will not concede on this matter. He added that China and the U.S. must choose between cooperation and conflict. According to China’s state television CCTV, Wang told Blinken that it is necessary to choose between dialogue or confrontation and cooperation or conflict.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang welcomed Blinken and his team at the entrance of a villa in the state guesthouse in Beijing. The two exchanged a few words in English before shaking hands in front of the flags of China and the U.S. After entering the meeting room, neither Blinken nor Qin spoke to the reporters present at the meeting, but later, the U.S. State Department announced that the talks were frank, substantive, and constructive, and that Chinese Foreign Minister accepted Antony Blinken’s invitation to visit Washington, with Qin Gang planning to go to the U.S. after the Beijing talks.

The main topic of the negotiations between the parties remains Taiwan, a subject that the Beijing Foreign Minister emphasized in the discussions, stating that the Taiwan issue is the pivot of China’s core interests, the most sensitive topic in China-U.S. relations, and the most significant threat to these relations.

State network CCTV reported that China wants the American side to respect the One China principle and fulfill the commitment not to support Taiwan’s independence.

On Saturday, June 17, Biden said he hopes to meet with President Xi Jinping in the coming months. The November meeting between the two leaders on the island of Bali, Indonesia, temporarily reduced concerns about a new Cold War, but after the Chinese spy balloon incident over U.S. airspace, high-level communications between the two countries decreased significantly.

Most world leaders and governments closely followed Blinken’s trip, as any escalation of tensions between superpowers could have global implications on all aspects and international issues, from financial markets to trade routes and global supply chains.

A senior State Department official, during a refueling stop in Tokyo on the way to Beijing, told reporters that both the American and Chinese sides have felt the need for high-level communication channels. The official added, ‘We are at a critical point in the relationship, and I believe reducing the risk of miscalculation or, as our Chinese friends often say, preventing the negative spiral of relations is very important.’

Relations between countries around the world are deteriorating, and there is concern that the U.S. and China might one day clash over the autonomous island of Taiwan, which China calls the self-governing island of Taiwan and claims belongs to China. The American official further stated that, of course, it cannot be denied that both countries have disagreements on various issues, from trade to U.S. efforts to contain China’s semiconductor industry and also Beijing’s human rights record.

McMaster: Blinken’s Visit to China Reflects U.S. Weakness

It is noteworthy that Blinken’s visit to Beijing has its critics, including Herbert Raymond McMaster, former U.S. National Security Advisor. McMaster, a retired American general who served as the National Security Advisor under former President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2018, said in an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation program, ‘I think China is sending such a message to the West and the United States: Look, we are now in charge. Your era is over.’

The former U.S. National Security Advisor stated, ‘Therefore, I think such a thing demands a decisive response from us, but the visit of Antony Blinken, the U.S. Secretary of State, to China reflects a bit of weakness.’ He further stated, ‘I think China hopes to create such an insight and understanding with Blinken’s visit that we are traveling to this country to pay respect to the Communist Party of China because, in fact, the Chinese want to use their power issue against the U.S. to convey to regional countries that, see, the time has come to follow us. This is our era, and this is what the Chinese call the new era of international relations.’

He stated that the U.S.’s relationship with China is worse than its relationship with Russia during the Cold War, saying, ‘Washington-Beijing relations are worse than Washington-Moscow relations during the Cold War because our economies are interconnected and intertwined. Another reason is that the leader of the Communist Party of China wants to show China as he sees it himself, as a country at the center.’

Some experts and analysts believe that one cannot expect very big results from this visit. Jessica Chen Weiss, an expert in China and Asia-Pacific studies at Cornell University, said she does not expect major breakthroughs from this visit. She said that given the current levels of distrust and tension in relations, a good outcome would be a better understanding of each side’s concerns and red lines, as well as some progress in areas like the economy and climate change.

Jonathan Ward, author of ‘The Decisive Decade,’ a book about U.S.-China competition, believes that the state of U.S.-China relations indicates a dangerous future ahead. He said, ‘I don’t think these visits will change the structural problem in U.S.-China relations.’

Some experts expect that Blinken’s visit will pave the way for more bilateral meetings in the coming months, including possible visits by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. It could also set the stage for meetings between Xi Jinping and Joe Biden at multilateral summits later this year.

However, it remains to be seen how President Joe Biden’s unusual remark on June 20 about his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, calling him a dictator exactly one day after Antony Blinken’s visit to China to stabilize bilateral relations between Washington and Beijing, will affect the relations between the two countries.