US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday for an extended conversation in the capital Beijing.
Diplomats from both sides described the talks as "positive" and said they were held in a "friendly atmosphere." The Chinese president said the two sides had committed to moving forward with the outline agreed upon by President Biden and Xi during their meeting in Bali in November of last year.
"I hope to see stable and permanent relations between the United States and China. I believe that the countries can overcome the various difficulties in relations," Xi said during the closed conversation between the two, according to China's Xinhua news agency. The meeting between the two was uncertain and it was not at all clear that the Chinese president would agree to meet with the secretary of state.
It was the first visit by a U.S. secretary of state to China since 2018, but Antony Blinken was greeted by his counterpart Qin Gang with a restrained, even cool, handshake — a testament to the very high tensions between the two powers. Before the trip, Washington expressed cautious hope that the trip would open channels of dialogue and stabilize relations before they escalate further, but in light of the many disagreements between the superpowers, it is doubtful whether a real breakthrough will be achieved.
At the end of the visit, which was scheduled for February but postponed because of the Chinese spy balloon affair over North America, the State Department said in a statement that the two sides had held "honest, substantive and constructive talks." The statement also said the U.S. diplomat had told his Chinese counterpart "very clearly" that the U.S. had no intention of disengaging from China and isolating it, and that both sides were seeing eye to eye on the need to stabilize relations and prevent the competition from turning into a confrontation. Chinese media stressed that Chin told Blinken that his country was committed to "fruitful and stable" relations and that "the Taiwan issue is the most explosive factor" when it comes to their relations.
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