WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor to President Biden, will meet two senior Chinese government officials next week, the Biden administration’s first in-person diplomatic meeting with its main rival foreign.
In a statement Wednesday, a State Department spokesman said Messrs. Blinken and Sullivan would meet next Thursday in Anchorage with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his senior diplomat Yang Jiechi.
The meetings will follow next week’s visits by Mr Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III to Japan and South Korea, two main US allies who have strained relations with China and who would expect be consulted before an engagement like the one planned with Beijing.
“It was important for us that the first meeting of this administration with Chinese officials was held on American soil, and after we had met and consulted closely with our partners and allies in Asia and Europe,” said Jen Psaki, attaché. press release from the White House.
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The meeting in Anchorage will continue a cautious sizing between the world’s two greatest powers, underway since the Biden administration took office amid promises to largely maintain the Trump administration’s firm stance on it. regard to Beijing. Last week, a speech by Mr Blinken, as well as a new White House national security strategy document, identified China as the main nation-state threat to the United States.
In his speech, Blinken said managing relations with China would be “the greatest geopolitical test of the 21st century” and called China the only country capable of “seriously challenging the stable and open international system” .
Biden last month met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, warning him of his intention to challenge China’s “coercive and unfair economic practices” as well as its human rights record and its crackdown in Hong Kong, according to a White House summary. of the call. But Mr Biden also said he hoped to cooperate with Mr Xi on issues such as the coronavirus, nuclear proliferation and climate change.
US officials did not outline a specific agenda for the Anchorage meeting. Mr. Blinken said on twitter that he looked forward to engaging Chinese officials “on a range of issues, including those on which we deeply disagree.”
Mr Blinken will make a stop in Alaska upon returning from his trip to Asia, his first foray out of Washington amid the coronavirus pandemic. So far, Mr. Blinken, to his frustration, has conducted diplomacy exclusively by phone and video. Mr Blinken was vaccinated, but officials cited the risks to others accompanying him as the reason for his limited travel to date.
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It will depart Washington on Monday, with stops in Tokyo and Seoul before heading to Anchorage. Austin, who will travel in a separate plane, will depart Seoul for meetings with officials in India, the defense ministry said.
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Testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, Mr Blinken said the meeting would be an opportunity “to put forward in very frank terms the many concerns we have regarding Beijing’s actions and behavior”, including the effects of Chinese business practices on American workers.
But he said he and Mr. Sullivan would also “explore whether there are other avenues of cooperation” with Beijing.
Mr Blinken added that the meeting was not the start of a strategic dialogue and that follow-up meetings would depend on “tangible progress and tangible results” on Washington’s concerns.
The meeting in Alaska will be the first known in-person diplomatic contact between U.S. and Chinese diplomats since June, when then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held a tense and largely unsuccessful meeting with Mr. Yang in Hawaii.
On Friday, Biden will virtually meet with the leaders of Australia, Japan and India, a group known as the “Quad” whose implicit purpose is to verify China’s economic and military influence in Asia.
The strategy paper released by the White House last week, and overseen by Mr. Sullivan, outlined plans to rebuild the economy, democracy and foreign alliances of the United States to establish a “position of strength” against rivals like Russia and China.
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“By restoring the credibility of the United States and reaffirming forward-looking global leadership, we will ensure that America, not China, sets the international agenda,” says the White House plan.
But Mr Biden has been cautious so far and has yet to take any major political action on China. Even President Donald J. Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports are being revised, Sullivan said last week. And the Pentagon is conducting a months-long review of its Chinese policy and posture of strength in Asia.
Chinese officials have publicly stated that they are not seeking confrontation with the United States or world domination, and that the Trump administration is to blame for a relationship between Washington and Beijing that analysts say is on its way. the lowest in decades.
Eric Schmitt contribution to reports.
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