US and Chinese foreign ministers meet

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan arrived in Anchorage, Alaska on Thursday.

The next two days are set for talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Chinese Communist Party Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.

Blinken set the tone before the meeting by claiming that China with its actions “threatens global stability”, and the list of things the two countries are arguing about is long.

Battle theme

Blinken says that he will, among other things, address the US concern about what Washington has referred to as China’s “genocide” of the Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang province, as well as concern about the development in Hong Kong and Beijing’s relations with Taiwan.

China’s “computer attacks” and the use of economic coercion against US allies will also be a topic during the talks, according to Blinken.

The conflict between the United States and China did not diminish during Donald Trump’s four years in the White House, but the successor has also set a tough tone towards the world’s most populous country. Expectations for the talks in Anchorage are therefore low.

Megaphone diplomacy

Nor from the Chinese team is the tone conciliatory.

“China has no room for compromise on issues concerning the country’s sovereignty, security and fundamental interests,” said a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Spokesman Zhao Lijian warns the United States against attempting “megaphone diplomacy” and advises Americans to “meet China halfway” and engage in “a sincere and constructive dialogue.”

Trade war

In 2017, Trump launched a trade war with China in an attempt to reduce the United States’ large trade deficit with the country, which he succeeded in doing. However, the United States’ overall trade deficit with the outside world increased.

The United States also views with great concern China’s military rearmament and growing influence, both in Asia and in the rest of the world.

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