Robert—run this China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Blinken Have Chilly Summer Encounter
July 29—Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi July 27, on the sidelines of an enlarged ASEAN foreign ministerial meeting in Vientiane, Laos. It was clear that the meeting would be contentious, as the U.S. has continued to conduct provocative actions against China and Chinese industry, in spite of the agreements of the two Presidents in their Nov. 15, 2023 meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit in San Francisco. In contrast to earlier meetings, no press was brought in for opening comments.
Wang Yi said that, in the past three months, the U.S. has not stopped its containment and suppression efforts of China, and has even intensified them. The threats facing Sino-U.S. relations are still accumulating, and the challenges are also rising, he said. Yet, it is still at a critical juncture of stopping the decline and stabilizing the relations. It is necessary to constantly calibrate the direction, manage risks, properly handle differences, eliminate interference, and promote cooperation.
While Wang reiterated that China will stay committed to the path of peaceful development and build a community with a shared future for mankind, he complained that the United States adheres to the wrong perception of China and always mirrors China with its own hegemonic logic. Wang said that China is not the United States, nor does it want to be. Rather, China does not seek hegemony or power politics, and it has the best record on peace and security as a major country in the world.
Blinken, for his part, again raised the bogus accusation that China was supporting Russia in its alleged war effort in Ukraine and threatened more sanctions against China if it didn’t stop. Wang Yi remained unmoved on that point, insisting: “China’s position on the Ukrainian issue is frank and open. We will continue to promote peaceful dialogue.” Wang Yi expressed the hope that the U.S. side can understand the Communist Party of China and China’s present and future from this decision.
He noted the U.S. encouragement of a tougher line from the Philippines on their territorial claims in the South China Sea, “fanning the flames” in the region. He also underlined the importance of the Taiwan issue in the relationship, pointing out quite forcefully that Taiwan is not a nation and will never be a nation.
Other sources noted that despite the apparent disagreements, there is still engagement between the two countries. This is made even more difficult by the weakness of the present occupant of the White House, President Sleepy Joe Biden, whom the Chinese had once hoped would take a more knowledgeable role in shaping policy towards China. But with his total political collapse, it would appear that the primary direction in foreign policy generally, and toward China specifically, is common from the assets of the Global NATO war party in Washington.