President Xi expects sound Sino-US ties
BEIJING/ISLAMABAD: President Xi Jinping termed the progress achieved in the US-China talks “very good” as the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken concludes his visit to Beijing on Monday.
The meeting between the two leaders was the final engagement of a rare trip aimed at ensuring disputes between the superpowers do not spiral into conflict.
Earlier, Blinken had strode towards Xi with his hand outstretched at the Great Hall of the People. It is a venue China often uses for greeting heads of state for positive signals in the choreography of diplomacy.
The two delegations then faced each other across a long conference table bedecked with pink lotus flowers, with Xi at the head and Blinken just to his right, Chinese media reported today.
President Xi and Blinken’s 30-minute meeting could help facilitate a summit between Xi and US President Joe Biden later in the year.
In November last year, Biden and Xi last met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. They pledged more frequent communication, although ties since then deteriorated over issues ranging from Taiwan to espionage concerns.
China asks USA to choose between conflict and cooperation
Earlier, China told the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to choose between ‘conflict and cooperation’. Blinken got this loud and clear message from the Chinese officials during his two-day official visit to Beijing.
“It is necessary to make a choice between dialogue and confrontation, cooperation or conflict,” Wang Yi told Blinken during a meeting in Beijing.
US Secretary of State Blinken and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi face media before holding meeting in Beijing on Monday.
Blinken spoke to Wang for three hours. Wang’s position in the Communist Party ranks above the foreign minister, according to the State Department.
Tensions have soared between the world’s two largest economies in recent years on issues ranging from trade to technology to Taiwan.
According to China’s state broadcaster, Wang told Blinken that Beijing had “no room to compromise” on Taiwan.
“On this issue, China has no room to compromise or concede,” CCTV said.
