ANCHORAGE | The United States and China resumed on Friday their discussions behind closed doors the day after the great unpacking of their deep disagreements, which set the tone for the “tough competition” desired by Joe Biden between the two leading world powers.
• Read also: First tense confrontation between team Biden and China
After two sessions Thursday in the city of Anchorage, Alaska, the American and Chinese heads of diplomacy meet for the last time to conclude this first face-to-face since the arrival of the new American president at the White House.
The latter said he was “proud” of his Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who stood up to his Chinese counterparts.
The day before, in very little diplomatic opening speeches, the two camps presented in an unprecedented way the gulf that separates them. Emancipating themselves from a precise protocol, they extended their remarks, taking turns speaking to try to have the last word, giving back in quick succession to the attacks of a rare virulence coming from opposite.
It was Antony Blinken who immediately accused Beijing of “threatening” “world stability”. And to list Washington’s “deep concerns” with regard to the “genocide” attributed to the Chinese authorities against Uyghur Muslims, but also “of Hong Kong, Taiwan, cyber attacks against the United States and economic coercion against [ses] allies ”.
Stung to the heart, Yang Jiechi, the most senior official of the Chinese Communist Party for diplomacy, spoke of his “strong opposition” to these “American interference in the internal affairs of China”, threatening “firm” reprisals.
“Condescension”
Then, he embarked on a long indictment against the United States, accused in particular of being “champions” in terms of cyberattacks.
He called on the opposing country to do the housework first, criticizing the “American democracy” that Washington wants to “impose” on the world, but in which even Americans would no longer “trust”, and invoking the movement anti-racist Black Lives Matter to denounce the record of the world’s leading power in terms of human rights.
“It is never good to bet against America,” replied Antony Blinken, claiming to have heard many countries express “deep concerns” about the Chinese attitude. The Biden administration wants to form a common front with its allies to oppose China in a “position of strength”, erected in “the greatest geopolitical challenge of the XXIe century”.
“The United States is not qualified to say that it wants to speak to China from a position of strength,” Yang Jiechi said again, deploring the “tone” and “condescension” of his American counterpart.
Even after the journalists left the room, after more than an hour of heated discussions, the two sides continued to accuse each other of having poisoned the atmosphere and “violated protocol”.
A senior American official estimated that the Chinese had shown “demagoguery” and “privileged the theatrical staging to the substantive debates”.
On Friday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry replied that the Americans were the first to play the “provocation”.
“Cold War Mindset”
“When the members of the Chinese delegation arrived in Anchorage, their hearts were frozen by the biting cold, but also by the welcome of their American hosts,” protested in Beijing the spokesman of the ministry, Zhao Lijian. “These manners are far removed from diplomatic etiquette!”
China was particularly annoyed by the latest US sanctions against its takeover of Hong Kong, announced on the eve of this meeting.
Even before the meeting in Alaska, expectations were low, as President Biden signaled his intention to continue on the firm path taken by his predecessor Donald Trump.
But the Biden team, which criticized the Trump administration for its isolation on the world stage and a diplomacy that is both vehement and muddled, claims to want to be more methodical so as to be able to also “cooperate” with the Asian giant in the face of common challenges such as the global warming.
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan assured Anchorage that the United States did not want a “conflict” with China, but was “open to tough competition.”
Yang Jiechi, for his part, called for “abandoning the Cold War mentality” and also pleaded for a form of “cooperation”.
Once alone and behind closed doors, the delegations also had, Thursday, a long conversation “substantial, serious and direct”, we assured the American side.
“We hope that the United States can come to meet China” to “bring bilateral relations on the path of solid and stable development,” added Beijing.