The mission of Antony Blinken to Beijing continues with the aim of mending relations between the US and China. The US Secretary of State met behind closed doors with Chinese diplomacy chief Wang Yi and his counterpart Qin Gang.
Today, before a press conference scheduled for later in the day, he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
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Blinken’s mission to China
The meeting between Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi took place behind closed doors in the Diaoyutai diplomatic complex in the Haidian district of the Chinese capital.
Blinken is the first US Secretary of State to visit China in almost five years. He arrived in Beijing yesterday and met for the first time with his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang, with whom he had ‘frank, substantive and constructive’ talks, according to the US State Department.
Qin Gang is the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs. While Wang Yi is the chief official in charge of diplomatic affairs within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), a predominant figure in Chinese foreign policy.
Wang Yi: ‘No compromise on Taiwan’
China will make ‘no compromise’ on Taiwan, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Blinken during their talks in Beijing, state media reported.
Wang Yi told the US Secretary of State that Beijing has “no room for compromise” on Taiwan. “On this issue, China has no room for compromise or concessions,” Wang said, as reported by state broadcaster Cctv.
“The US must truly adhere to the One China principle confirmed in the three joint US-China communiqués, respect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and clearly oppose Taiwan’s independence,” Wang Yi added.
‘Choose between cooperation and conflict’
The Chinese foreign minister then told the US secretary of state that China and the US must choose between ‘cooperation and conflict‘.
China called on the US to ‘reverse the downward spiral’ in relations and stop extolling the ‘Chinese threat theory’.
According to Wang Yi, it is necessary to ‘push for a return to a healthy and stable track and work together to find a correct path for China and the US to get along.’ Thus said the senior CCP diplomat, quoted in a Chinese Foreign Ministry memo, blaming the US’s ‘misperception of China’ for the depression in Sino-US relations.
Wang went on to call on Blinken to “stop extolling the ‘China threat theory’, lift illegal unilateral sanctions against China, stop suppressing China’s technological development, and refrain from intentionally interfering in China’s internal affairs.”
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