Early in the morning of the 26th, the talks between the Chinese and US foreign ministers began, and the pace of the meeting was extremely fast.
As the host, Foreign Minister Wang Yi made an opening remarks. A few days ago, the Chinese side mentioned at a briefing that the first goal of the talks was to "establish a correct understanding" for the US side, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi grasped this purpose and set the tone for China-US relations as soon as he came up, pointing out that China-US relations have generally shown a trend of stopping decline and stabilizing, but at the same time, negative factors in bilateral relations have also risen and accumulated, and said that China and the United States are now facing two possibilities: stability forward or repeating the mistake of spiraling downward.
Before Blinken's departure, the United States and China had a series of intimate interactions, including a phone call between the head of state, a visit by the US Treasury Secretary, a call between the US and US financial and economic working groups, and a phone call between the two defense ministers.
But in the turn of the day, the United States launched a "Section 301 investigation" into China's shipping, logistics and shipbuilding industries, Biden called for raising tariffs on China's steel and aluminum, Yellen hyped the so-called "overcapacity wheel" of China, Blinken released the so-called "genocide" report in Xinjiang, the United States Congress also passed a number of China-related bills, including the Taiwan Aid Act, and the United States even threatened to sanction Chinese financial institutions due to Russia-related factors.
Sino-US relations seem to be calm, but there are undercurrents surging under the calm sea. Wang Yi set the tone of the relationship at the outset, conveying China's concerns and doubts to Blinken about the United States. Immediately after Wang Yi raised the second question, this time he directly mentioned the "outbreak of conflict" between China and the United States, saying that the international community will wait and see whether the two sides will lead international cooperation, respond to various global issues, and achieve "win-win and multi-win", or whether they will be confrontational and confrontational, or even "conflict", resulting in "both loses and many losses".
The video from the scene showed that after hearing Wang Yi's words, Blinken sat down and said that the purpose of his trip was to promote the implementation of the consensus reached at the San Francisco summit between the Chinese and US leaders. He also put the topic of Sino-US cooperation at the forefront, citing areas such as anti-narcotics, resuming military dialogue, artificial intelligence, and other areas where China and the United States have the least differences and are the easiest to reach cooperation.
After talking about cooperation, Blinken confronted Wang Yi's multiple-choice question, only to see him suddenly frown and say with a serious expression, "It is extremely important to manage our differences responsibly." Blinken pointed out that China and the United States should be as clear as possible about areas of disagreement, "at least to avoid misunderstandings and miscalculations." It is necessary to "manage differences" and "avoid misunderstandings and miscalculations", indicating that the US does not want to "break out into conflict" with China, which is equivalent to Blinken's statement on the spot.
It is worth noting that throughout the negotiation process, Foreign Minister Wang Yi was calm and calm, and from time to time he used gestures to emphasize China's core concerns. Blinken, on the other hand, always put his hands in front of him and under the table, and did not relax for a moment, not only did he not lean on the back of the seat, but he did not dare to come out, and his body leaned forward from time to time, with a sincere gesture of explanation. The stark contrast between the Chinese and US foreign ministers highlights that China and the United States have now exchanged positions.
Blinken's visit to China seems to be menacing and powerful, but in fact, if the US side is really confident, it will not need all kinds of hype to build momentum. Not to mention that the United States is currently declining in its national strength and its hegemony is leaking everywhere, and it has no confidence to tear its face with China. The U.S. election is coming in November, and the Biden administration has to ensure that Ukraine will not be completely defeated before the election when its energy is involved by both Ukraine and Israel.
As in the current Sino-US foreign ministers' talks, the US side has already shown weakness, and China naturally has the initiative.