U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi met in Rome, Italy on Sunday (October 31). The two countries again talked about the Taiwan issue and warned each other not to take measures that might further aggravate tensions across the Taiwan Strait.
The meeting was held in the hotel where the Chinese delegation stayed at the G20 Summit and lasted for about an hour. It was the first face-to-face meeting between Brinken and Wang Yi since the heated debate in Anchorage, Alaska in March this year.
In a statement, the US State Department stated that Brinken expressed concern about China’s “undermining the rules-based international order, contrary to the values and interests of ours and our allies,” and mentioned China’s violations of human rights in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong. , And the Taiwan and South China Sea issues.
Although Sino-US relations are currently at a low point for many years, Brinken said that the two countries can cooperate on issues such as North Korea, Iran, Myanmar, Afghanistan and climate.
Brinken also emphasized the importance of maintaining open communication channels and expressed the hope that the fierce competition between the two largest economies in the world can be managed responsibly.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China stated in a statement that Wang Yi “expressed China’s solemn concern on various issues that harm China’s legitimate rights and interests” and requested the US to change its course and push China-US relations back to the track of healthy development.
Wang Yi said that it is misleading for the United States to accuse China of changing the status quo in Taiwan. The crux of the situation in the Taiwan Strait is “because the Taiwan authorities have repeatedly tried to break through the one-China framework.”
China has always regarded Taiwan as part of its territory and said that any other country’s intervention in the Taiwan issue is an interference in China’s internal affairs.
Policy unchanged
During the meeting between the two, the Taiwan issue once again became the focus. Reuters quoted a senior U.S. State Department official as saying that Chinese military planes “disturbed Taiwan” and broke records. Last week, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen confirmed for the first time that US troops are assisting Taiwan’s military training in Taiwan, which once again triggered severe criticism from Beijing. Brinken “very clearly” stated during the talks that Washington opposes any unilateral changes to Taiwan’s status quo by Beijing.
Chinese military aircraft have recently intensively entered the air defense identification zone in southwest Taiwan. Taiwan claimed that there were nearly Baijiawan Pass and warnings in three days in early October.
The United States does not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but Washington is Taiwan’s most important international ally and weapon supplier. The US “Taiwan Relations Act” stipulates that the country will provide Taiwan with defense materials and technology to ensure that Taiwan can maintain sufficient self-defense capabilities.
Washington has long pursued a policy of “strategic ambiguity,” that is, it has reservations about the question of “if mainland China launches an offensive, will the United States intervene military to defend Taiwan”, but US President Joe Biden said last week, If necessary, the United States will take action.
US State Department officials stated that Brinken made it clear that Washington has not changed its “one China” policy on the Taiwan issue. When referring to Biden’s previous remarks, Brinken reiterated that “our policy has not changed.”
“We have a long-term commitment,” Brinken said. “We want to ensure that no one will take any unilateral action that undermines the status quo in Taiwan. This has not changed.”
During the talks, Wang Yi stated that the Taiwan issue is the “most sensitive issue” between China and the United States. Mishandling it will cause “subversive and overall damage” to Sino-US relations.
“We require the U.S. to pursue a real one-China policy, not a fake one-China policy; we require the U.S. to fulfill its commitments to China, not betray its faith; we require the U.S. to truly implement the “One-China” policy into actions instead of saying one thing. One set,” Wang Yi said.
Last week, after Brinken expressed his encouragement to UN members and the United States to support Taiwan’s participation in the UN system, Chinese officials and official media severely criticized him. Xinhua News Agency warned that Brinken’s behavior was “like playing with fire, sending a serious wrong signal to the’Taiwan independence’ forces and standing on the opposite side of the 1.4 billion Chinese people and most countries in the world”.
High-level dialogue
Since the beginning of the trade war between the United States and China in 2018, relations between the two countries have continued to deteriorate. After Biden entered the White House in January this year, the relationship between the two countries has not seen any significant improvement. At the Alaska talks in March, the top diplomats of the two countries rarely even choked openly. “The Chinese don’t eat this thing” was widely circulated on Chinese social media.
Nevertheless, the two countries have had frequent high-level dialogues since the second half of the year, which seems to show that both sides hope to cool the tension.
In September this year, Xi Jinping and Biden had their second telephone conversation since the latter took office. The two mentioned the need to manage differences, “avoid misunderstandings, misjudgments and accidental conflicts,” and promote coordination and cooperation on other issues.
On October 6, Yang Jiechi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, met with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in Zurich in an attempt to continue to improve communication between the two strategic opponents.
US State Department officials stated that the meeting between Brinken and Wang Yi was “very frank” but fruitful, and this is expected to help lay the foundation for the online summit between Biden and Xi Jinping later this year.
According to a video released by the social media account “Yuyuan Tan Tian” of China’s state media CCTV, Wang Yi and Brinken did not shake hands before the meeting or elbow they often used during Wang Yi’s visit. Another video showed that the two looked more relaxed after the meeting, and the two shook hands and patted each other’s arms.
In Rome, Wang Yi also met with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian (Jean-Yves Le Drian). The press release of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Wang Yi called on France to “highly vigilant against words and deeds that create confrontation and provoked a new Cold War in the international arena” and promote the stable development of China-EU relations.