US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and China’s top foreign policy official, Wang Yi, held talks on a range of issues including fentanyl, hacking and Beijing’s military activities, according to senior State Department officials, as the two largest economies ramp up high-level dialogue to stabilize ties.
The discussion between Blinken and Wang on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations gathering of foreign ministers in Jakarta, Indonesia, lasted about 90 minutes, longer than the planned hour, according to the officials. They declined to be identified discussing sensitive matters.
Wang made clear China’s problems with the US on a range of topics, while Blinken said the US would protect its interests, the officials said. The two also discussed Beijing military activities in the South China Sea, days after the People’s Liberation Army sent its largest sortie of warplanes into sensitive areas near Taiwan in three months.
A possible call between President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping wasn’t talked about in detail, the officials said.
“The meeting was part of ongoing efforts to maintain open channels of communication to clarify US interests across a wide range of issues and to responsibly manage competition by reducing the risk of misperception and miscalculation,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said afterward. The discussion were “candid and constructive,” he said.
China and the US have been attempting to rebuild lines of communication, while also fighting a tit-for-tat trade war that’s seen both sides restrict exports critical to advanced technologies. The Biden administration is keen to mend fences with America’s main geopolitical rival, partly to reassure allies that it isn’t dragging them into a conflict. Chinese officials have reason to reduce frictions: it would give them room to focus on jump-starting the economic recovery.
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Blinken’s meeting with Wang last month in Beijing was the thorniest of his visit to China, with Wang blasting “illegal” US sanctions and putting the blame for worsening ties on Washington. Blinken met several top Chinese figures during that trip, including Xi, who said afterward it was “very good” the US and China had made progress in steadying ties.
Despite those humble gains, the relationship remains tense and other issues are cropping up. Weeks before Blinken arrived in Beijing, US officials’ emails were apparently breached in a hack of government accounts that Microsoft Corp. has said originated from China.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo was among those targeted, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. She has been a prominent American figure in implementing export curbs on advanced chip technology to China, moves that Beijing has decried as undermining supply chain stability.
When asked on Thursday about the claims that US officials were hacked, China’s Foreign Ministry said that “the US should account for its cyberattacks as soon as possible rather than spread false information and divert attention.”
Blinken’s visit to China was followed by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen last weekend, and US climate envoy John Kerry is set to arrive in Beijing on Sunday for more talks.
Yellen said meetings with officials put ties on a “surer footing” after she stressed that “diversifying” supply chains in narrow areas wasn’t the same as decoupling their economies. Chinese Premier Li Qiang had earlier warned nations that the “politicization” of economic issues will lead to “fragmentation and even confrontation.”
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On Wednesday, China’s ambassador to the US, Xie Feng, used a meeting with Assistant Secretary of Defense Ely Ratner to urge Washington to help put bilateral and military relations back on track. Regular contacts between the armed forces of China and the US remain stalled.
Beijing has said the US must lift certain sanctions before they can restart — likely a reference to the US sanctioning Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu in 2018 over a Russian arms purchase. Wang and Blinken touched on the military contacts issue on Thursday, the senior State Department officials said.
Wang is attending the Asean gathering because China’s foreign minister, Qin Gang, had to skip it due to what his government termed a “physical condition,” without providing more details. Qin’s last official engagement was was on June 25, when he met officials from Sri Lanka, Russia and Vietnam.
(Updates with details of Wang and Blinken meeting.)