At the invitation of Foreign Minister Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited China on April 24. In response to Blinken's visit to China, the North American Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China held a special media briefing to introduce the relevant arrangements for Blinken's visit to China.
It is reported that this is Blinken's second visit in less than a year. When announcing Blinken's visit to China, the U.S. State Department also briefed that Blinken would meet with Chinese officials in Shanghai and Beijing during his trip.
In addition, the U.S. side also announced three purposes of Blinken's trip, which are to continue to promote the consensus reached by the leaders of China and the United States in San Francisco last year, continue to communicate on global issues, continue to manage the bilateral relationship responsibly, and avoid competition between China and the United States, which can turn into conflict due to miscalculations. This statement is in line with parts of the Chinese briefing.
Blinken
But the problem is that all three of these goals are based on the position and interests of the United States. However, the United States has not mentioned China's core interests at all.
On the eve of Blinken's visit to China, the U.S. State Department released its 2023 Country Human Rights Report, which covers the current Russia-Ukraine war and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, expressing concern about the human rights crisis caused by the war and conflict. But this is not the point, the focus is on interference in the mainland's Xinjiang issue, without any evidence, accusing the mainland of Xinjiang as having so-called "human rights problems" and repeatedly mentioning the so-called "genocide".
In addition, the United States has also interfered in China's core interests, the Taiwan issue. On April 20, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a new foreign aid bill with a total value of $95 billion, in addition to $61 billion for Ukraine and $26 billion for Israel, it will also provide $8 billion in military aid to the Asia-Pacific region, including Taiwan. The bill has already been put to the Senate for a vote, and it will pass as early as next week.
This is not the end of the story, as a bipartisan delegation from the US Congress also visited Taiwan from 23 to 25 April, and met with Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan's leader-designate Lai Ching-te, and head of the foreign affairs department, Wu Zhaoxie. The U.S. congressional delegation expressed great concern about the security situation in the Taiwan Strait and that the U.S. Congress will continue to express support for Taiwan in a bipartisan manner, and will also promote the smooth progress of various cooperation between the United States and Taiwan.
In addition, Rosenberg, chairman of the US Council on Taiwan, also said at a think tank discussion on April 19 that she had met with politicians of all parties in Taiwan and reached a consensus with many parties that Taiwan would promote Taiwan's military priority policy and promote the development of US-Taiwan relations on a bipartisan basis.
This series of moves by the United States has sent a very clear message to China, and Blinken's visit to China this time is not only with a mission, but also with "bargaining chips", including the Taiwan issue, the so-called "human rights" issue, and even Sino-US economic and trade issues. This is also very much in line with the US method of creating "bargaining chips", and the US will always find ways to create some "bargaining chips" before some key meetings, so as to gain an advantage at the negotiating table.
U.S.-China relations
But it is clear that Director Yang Jiechi has clearly warned at the 2019 Alaska meeting that the United States is not qualified to deal with China from the perspective of strength and status, and China will not accept this set.
Similarly, five years later, China is even less likely to eat this set. We can talk if we want to, but we must build it on the basis of dialogue on an equal footing, respect China's legitimate concerns, and not say one thing and do another. Therefore, at the media briefing, the North America Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China also put forward five major goals that China hopes to achieve during Blinken's visit to China.
These five goals require the United States to establish a correct understanding of China, strengthen bilateral dialogue, continue to manage differences between China and the United States, promote mutually beneficial cooperation, and jointly shoulder the responsibilities of a major country. After all, China and the United States, as permanent members of the UN Security Council and the world's top two economies, have become the most important bilateral relations in the world, so the stability of Sino-US relations will bring security to the whole world.
However, the United States has long pursued a policy of suppression against China on trade issues, with high-tech sanctions, Section 301 investigations, and the so-called Entity List constantly introducing new repressive measures to "bully" China. Therefore, if the United States wants to continue talks, or even if Blinken's trip is successful, then the United States must respond to China's legitimate concerns and make concessions.
Then there is the issue of shouldering the responsibilities of a major country, and the current tense South China Sea issue and the Taiwan Strait issue are actually being promoted by the United States. On the issue of the Russia-Ukraine war and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the United States also plays the role of the driving force behind the scenes. Since the United States claims to be a "responsible" power, it must demonstrate its responsibility as a great power and push for a de-escalation of tensions, rather than pushing for military aid bills and pursuing its own selfish interests at the expense of other countries. This is because only in this way can China and the United States have talks, otherwise even if the talks are completed, they will not be effectively implemented in the end.