Washington:
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with major Chinese officials on March 18 in Alaska, the White House mentioned on Wednesday, the initial higher-level in-particular person get in touch with involving the two sparring nations beneath the Biden administration.
The meeting, taking location on Blinken’s return from his initial overseas trip to crucial U.S. allies Japan and South Korea, will come amid what is shaping up to be a main U.S. diplomatic push to solidify alliances in Asia and Europe to counter China.
National safety adviser Jake Sullivan will join the meeting in Anchorage with China’s major diplomat, Yang Jiechi, and State Councillor Wang Yi, White House press secretary Jen Psaki mentioned, adding that the administration would method its relations with China “in lockstep” with its partners.
“It was important to us that this administration’s first meeting with Chinese officials be held on American soil, and occur after we have met and consulted closely with partners and allies in both Asia and Europe,” Psaki told a news briefing.
She mentioned the meeting would be “an opportunity to address a wide range of issues, including ones where we have deep disagreements.”
China’s embassy in Washington did not respond right away to a request for comment.
President Joe Biden’s administration has committed to reviewing components of U.S. policies toward China, as the world’s two biggest economies navigate frosty relations that sank to their lowest depths in decades in the course of Donald Trump’s presidency.
Biden and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, held their initial phone contact as leaders final month and appeared at odds on most difficulties, even as Xi warned that confrontation would be a “disaster” for each nations.
Testifying prior to the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, Blinken signaled next week’s meeting would not be a return to typical senior-level dialogues made use of beneath previous U.S. administrations, which had been increasingly criticized in Washington for yielding small progress on U.S. grievances with Beijing.
“There’s no intent at this point for a series of follow-on engagements. Those engagements, if they are to follow, really have to be based on the proposition that we’re seeing tangible progress and tangible outcomes on the issues of concern to us with China,” Blinken mentioned.
US Diplomatic Push
Blinken also mentioned that if China insists it is not violating the human rights of Uighur Muslims in its Xinjiang area, it should really provide the planet access to the region.
U.N. authorities and rights groups say China has detained more than a million Uighurs and other minorities there, actions the United States has deemed a genocide. Beijing denies abuses, saying facilities in the area are for vocational coaching to counter the threat of terrorism.
The talks will stick to the go to by Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to Japan and South Korea next week, as nicely as an on the internet summit on Friday involving Biden and the leaders of Japan, India and Australia.
That will be the initial leader-level meeting of the 4-nation group, recognized as the Quad, observed as portion of U.S. efforts to increase its diplomacy in Asia to balance China’s increasing military and financial energy.
Bonnie Glaser, an Asia specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, mentioned the timing of the meeting sends the message to Beijing that U.S. alliances are powerful.
Discussions are most likely to concentrate on China’s policies toward Hong Kong, its stress on Taiwan, its therapy of Uighurs, and what Washington sees as financial coercion against Australia, she mentioned.
“If the Chinese repeat their messages contained in recent speeches that the U.S. is to blame for the problems in the U.S.-China relationship and therefore the ball is in the U.S. court, then nothing positive will come of this meeting,” Glaser mentioned.
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