Although a meeting with President Joe Biden is still unconfirmed, it is not ruled out that the president will receive Wang Yi, who is the highest-ranking Chinese official to arrive in Washington DC in the last five years.
The Chinese Foreign Minister called on Thursday for a stable relationship with the United States, and spoke of the need to “put an end to the clouds that darken the scenario” between the two powers. “We seek to expand cooperation that benefits both parties so that we can stabilize relations between the United States and China and return them to the path of healthy, stable, and sustainable development,” said the Minister at the beginning of the talks with the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller stressed that the meeting between Wang and Blinken was part of a reciprocal visit, following the latter’s trip to Beijing, in addition to taking place following “recent high-level meetings as part of the continued efforts to maintain open lines of communication and responsibly management of relations between the United States and China.”
According to the statement, both officials discussed “a variety of bilateral, regional and global issues, including addressing areas of difference and exploring areas of cooperation.”
US interference in China’s internal affairs such as the Taiwan issue; differences regarding conflicts on the international agenda and the economic war against China are topics that contributed to the deterioration of bilateral relations.
Chinese authorities have reiterated that the Taiwan issue is the core of China’s main interests, the basis of the policy of China-US relations, and the first red line of ties between the parties that should not be crossed. They have also denounced that the sale of US arms to Taiwan threatens peace and security in the region.
jrr/llp/npg/dfm