The state of relations between the states does not meet “the fundamental interests of the two peoples” nor the “expectations of the international community,” Qin told CCTV when speaking to Blinken. “The Taiwan issue goes to the heart of China’s core interests,” he said. The fate of Taiwan is currently one of the major issues of contention between the West and China, which sees the island as a breakaway territory.
For its part, the US delegation spoke of “constructive and honest” talks between the two ministers after the meeting. Blinken invited Qin to a return visit to Washington, which he accepted, State Department spokesman Matt Miller said. Blinken therefore emphasized the “importance of diplomacy and maintaining open channels of communication on the full range of issues to reduce the risk of misperceptions and miscalculations”.
Qin and Blinken did not comment publicly even on Sunday. However, the US Secretary of State also wants to speak to journalists on Monday after further meetings. According to a speaker, Blinken in China was also expected to push to curb exports to Latin America of certain chemicals used to make the highly addictive pain reliever fentanyl. In the past, the US anti-narcotics agency DEA described fentanyl as the “deadliest drug threat” in the United States.
A senior US official, who wished to remain anonymous, said Sunday’s discussion went beyond normal, including on Taiwan. “This was a real conversation,” he said. Since the split between China and Taiwan in 1949, Beijing has viewed the island as a breakaway territory that it wants to reunite with the mainland – if necessary using military force. Recently, Beijing had massively increased the threats against Taipei.
Blinken canceled a planned trip to China at short notice in early February after a Chinese balloon flew over the United States for days and was shot down, leading to a scandal between Washington and Beijing. US President Joe Biden had tried to relax the affair shortly before Blinken’s arrival in Beijing. “I don’t think the government knew where it was and what was in it and what was going on,” he said on Saturday. “I think it was more embarrassing than intended.”
Biden also said he hopes to hold more meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the coming months. The two heads of state met in November on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali. Xi and Biden are both likely to attend the next G20 meeting in September in New Delhi, India. The Chinese head of state has also been invited to the meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Community in San Francisco in November.
No US Secretary of State had traveled to China since Blinken’s predecessor, Mike Pompeo, visited China in 2018. Pompeo advocated an all-out confrontation with China in the final years of Republican Donald Trump’s presidency.
The Biden government has gone further than Trump in some areas – such as restrictions on semiconductor exports to China. Washington fears their use for military purposes, and the US also wants to prevent China from dominating next-generation technologies. In other limited areas, such as climate, Washington has remained open to working with Beijing.
