Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a peaceful meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, to which the two-nation attached great significance, after participating in the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Bali on Saturday. The meeting in Bali lasts more than five hours, which is a long time for a one-on-one meeting and has been rare in ministerial-level talks between China and The U.S.A. in recent years.
The Beijing side declared the meeting as “substantive” and “constructive” in the press release, which means that the two sides had a practical discussion and covered completely bilateral relations and specific issues in bilateral relations. The meeting was “constructive” in that some agreement was reached, and some clear and excellent matters were resolved, as seen from the press release. The experts said that the U.S. had made some positive declarations, but it is more critical for the U.S. to follow what it has guaranteed in talks, and China will notice if the U.S. actions match its words.
“The Biden administration’s moves to seek regular meetings with senior Chinese officials and mentioning partnership set out the purpose of solving different problems for the U.S., not the long-term positive progress of China-US relationship,” Yuan Zheng, deputy director in Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), told the Global Times on Sunday.
High inflation pressure is the main reason for the U.S. to look for dialogue with China. Still, in other fields, including decreasing global economic depression and climate change, both sides share great space for teamwork, but this depends on the attitude of the U.S. and whether it shows honesty or wants competition. During the Saturday meeting, Wang told Blinken that the U.S. had promised not to support “Taiwan independence” segregation.
Wang Yi said the U.S. had cited a need for a “bannister” for Beijing-Washington relations. Still, the three joint messages are, in fact, the most reliable “bannister” for the two countries. As long as the two countries fulfil their agreement on the three messages, the bilateral relationship will not drift from the right track. Otherwise, no amount of “bannister” will work, Wang said.
On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Blinken continued his visit to Asia. The Biden government moved Sunday to increase its relationship with key Southeast Asian ally Thailand.
Chinese experts said China has never supposed the U.S. to change its indo-pacific policy in the short term, and China is fully prepared for long-term tension with the U.S. The U.S. is demanding to maximize its competition with China but cannot afford the result of an all-out battle, as it will damage its power, so it wants to set a so-called “bannister.” According to experts, such a mindset will give effect in more competition than teamwork for bilateral ties.
The U.S. economy is now facing a crisis, and it is up to the U.S. to decide which way, facing China for the political plan or cooperating with China for sensible needs, could best reduce the damage to the U.S. in the end. Experts said that China would be reasonable in handling future ties, although it has goodwill to maximize the fields for cooperation.
