Published on September 19, 2023 at 6:55 a.m. Updated on September 19, 2023 at 6:56 a.m.
Maintain a nourished dialogue despite the numerous and deep disagreements. New episode in a long series of summit meetings, the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken met Chinese Vice President Han Zheng on Monday in New York on the sidelines of the Annual General Assembly of the United Nations ( UN).
“I think it is a good thing to increase the number of high-level meetings,” explained Antony Blinken before the meeting, which took place at the Chinese mission to the UN in New York. The discussions aim to “ensure that we keep the lines of communication open and that we demonstrate that we are managing the relationship between our two countries responsibly.”
For his part, the Chinese vice-president noted that the world’s two leading economic powers were facing “many difficulties and challenges.” “The world needs a relationship between the United States and China that is healthy and stable” for the benefit of both countries and “the whole world,” he argued.
Discussions on security in the Asia-Pacific
This new meeting comes after that, this weekend in Malta, between Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and the head of Chinese diplomacy, Wang Yi.
While the discussions lasted a total of twelve hours spread over two days, the White House welcomed “frank, substantial and constructive discussions”. The two parties notably agreed to “conduct consultations” in certain areas, in particular regarding “developments in politics and security in the Asia-Pacific”.
Towards a Biden-Xi meeting?
The last meeting of this type, and at this level, dates back to last May. It was around the same time, in the spring, that the American president predicted a “thaw” in the Sino-American relationship, which had soured in February following a balloon flying over the United States. Chinese spy. Since then, the United States and China have renewed dialogue, notably with a succession of visits by senior American officials to Beijing, including Antony Blinken last June.
This resumption of discussions could foreshadow a possible face-to-face meeting between Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the next Apec (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit in mid-November in San Francisco ( California). At this stage, neither Washington nor Beijing have confirmed this. Bilateral relations are still tense, with trade disputes, Chinese expansion in the South China Sea and the issue of the autonomous democratic island of Taiwan the main stumbling blocks.
China and Russia have “similar” positions on the United States and Ukraine, according to Moscow
Following an exchange between the heads of Chinese and Russian diplomacy, the Russian Foreign Ministry affirmed that the two countries had “similar” positions regarding “the actions of the United States on the international scene, including those of an anti-Russian and anti-Chinese nature.” On Ukraine, Moscow and Beijing agree on “the futility of attempts to resolve the crisis without taking Russia’s interests into account”.
With AFP
2023-09-19 04:55:59
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