Blinken: China-US consultations have made positive progress in various fields, and do not seek "decoupling" from China
On the afternoon of the 26th, Blinken held a press conference at the U.S. Embassy in China as he was about to return to the United States after his second visit to China. He said that China and the United States have made positive progress in consultations in various fields, such as contacts at various levels and exchanges between the two militaries. The United States will promote the expansion of people-to-people exchanges between the two countries. He stressed that the United States does not seek to "decouple" from China.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the U.S. goal is not to stop China's development, nor to seek "decoupling" from China, as Treasury Secretary Yellen said before, if that would cause damage to the global economy, it would also be a disaster for the United States.
Blinken also expressed the so-called "concern" of the US side on the South China Sea and other issues. On the issue of the Taiwan Strait, Blinken reiterated that the US policy remains unchanged and that "it is of utmost importance for the US to continue to pursue the one-China policy and maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait."
International public opinion pays attention to Blinken's visit to China: China-US relations are "tested" in many aspects
The international community is paying close attention to Blinken's visit to China. According to a Reuters report, recent high-level contacts between China and the United States, as well as exchanges through working groups in various fields such as trade and military, have eased differences between the two countries. Blinken's visit to China comes at a time when U.S.-China relations are on a more stable footing, but there are still a number of unresolved issues that could negatively impact the relationship between the two countries.
It has been observed that the United States regards China as its most important strategic competitor and geopolitical challenge, which will not change for a long time to come. Singapore's "Lianhe Zaobao" believes that the biggest risk between China and the United States at this stage is the South China Sea issue, not the Taiwan issue, and in the long run, it is a dispute over science and technology. While suppressing and guarding against China, the United States hopes that China will cooperate and even "make concessions" on a series of issues of concern to the United States.
Su Xiaohui, deputy director of the Institute of American Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, pointed out that the US side has some tentative intentions, hoping to exert more pressure when communicating with the Chinese side on some issues, and even force the Chinese side to compromise in order to achieve its own strategic goals, with low costs and high returns. The US side has been making such calculations, so in this context, from China's perspective, we also hope that the US side can clearly see our views on China-US relations from the perspective of principle, and hope that the US side will see the potential possibility of risks in the current China-US relations and what are the influencing factors behind it, so as to prevent the US from carrying out dangerous probing and provocations.
U.S. presidential election may provide a "window period" for stabilizing U.S.-China relations
Da Wei, director of the Center for Strategic and Security Studies at Tsinghua University, said in an interview with the media a few days ago that although there have been frequent high-level interactions between China and the United States in the past year, at present we can only prevent further deterioration of relations, and there are still considerable difficulties in achieving substantial improvement in bilateral relations. With the U.S. election approaching, the first half of this year may be a critical window period for achieving "steady progress" in Sino-US relations. While it's hard to say how much "progress" there will be in the bilateral relationship, whether a Democratic or Republican candidate is elected president will have a positive effect.
Su Xiaohui pointed out that from the perspective of the Biden administration, the consensus reached at the previous "San Francisco Meeting" between the Chinese and US heads of state has been emphasized and implemented in the recent period. In other words, when interacting with China, the basic understanding of the US side is that it hopes that China-US relations can maintain the momentum of stopping the decline and stabilizing, rather than disrupting China-US relations, which is a basic judgment of our perception of the US side. So another judgment is that it is clear that for the US government now, especially in the election year, it wants to cooperate with China on some issues and show its achievements at home, and at the same time, if the Sino-US relationship remains stable, it is also very necessary for the ruling party to prevent miscalculations and conflicts.
Author丨Fu Youqian, senior editor-in-chief of Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News
Editor丨Huang Haining, Editor-in-Chief of Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News, and Zheng Zhijia, Editor-in-Chief of Direct News
Typesetting丨He Xinying, Shenzhen Satellite TV direct news editor