“Should China and the U.S. maintain the right direction of stable progress or return to a downward spiral?”, Wang asked during a meeting with Blinken in Beijing.
The relationship between China and the United States is beginning to stabilize, but continues to be tested by “negative factors,” he added.
The official acknowledged “progress” since November, when Chinese and North American leaders Xi Jinping and Joe Biden met again in San Francisco after years without face-to-face meetings. The Chinese diplomatic chief stressed that Beijing respects red lines on matters of sovereignty, security and development, and warned the US not to cross them.
“Negative Factors in Relationships [EUA-China] “Continually increasing and growing, and the relationship faces all kinds of obstacles,” Wang warned.
To the Chinese Foreign Minister, “China's legitimate development rights have been unfairly suppressed, and our fundamental interests are being challenged.”.
However, Wang did not specify what the challenges were. There are many sticking points between the two superpowers, including their stances on the South China Sea, US support for the Taiwanese government and human rights.
Blinken's visit, the second in less than a year, is seen as an attempt to ease tensions between the world's two largest economies. However, disputes have poisoned relations, particularly over US restrictions on exports of advanced technologies, including semiconductors, to China.
“The international community is watching whether China and the United States can move international cooperation toward mutually beneficial results or toward conflict,” Wang said, stressing that it would affect the entire world.
Blinken was more circumspect in his comments during the press conference, replying that “active diplomacy” was needed. To advance the agenda established when Joe Biden and Xi Jinping met in San Francisco.
“In our opinion, there is no substitute for face-to-face diplomacy”, the US Secretary of State highlighted, adding that he wanted to make sure that “we have differences, at least we are as clear as possible to avoid misunderstandings and miscalculations”.Taiwan, TikTok and Ukraine
Before his trip, Antony Blinken had indicated that he would raise important issues with his Chinese counterparts, such as China's trade practices and Beijing's support for Moscow.
Some of the differences between China and the United States were highlighted earlier this week, after Washington approved its latest aid package, which includes military aid to Taiwan. This fact drew sharp criticism from Beijing, which it considered a “serious violation of the one-China principle”.
China considers Taiwan an autonomous province that will eventually come under Beijing's control, but the island considers itself independent.
Blinken's arrival comes days after the US passed a law forcing Chinese company TikTok to sell the popular video app or face a ban in the US.
Social networking site TikTok has also been threatened with a US ban unless it cuts ties with its Chinese parent company ByteDance.. Washington suspects the application is being used to spy on Americans, collect personal information and act as Chinese propaganda.
Behind the scenes, the The Americans have warned Beijing to stop exporting weapons to Russia that it says will help Moscow produce weapons for the war in Ukraine.The threat of sanctions hangs over the talks.
The Joe Biden administration's willingness to work with China stands in stark contrast to efforts to isolate Russia from its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
While the Chinese have not directly supplied arms to Russia, Washington has accused Moscow of providing dual-use equipment and technology in recent weeks to facilitate its rearmament effort, the largest since the Soviet Union's invasion of Ukraine.
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