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BEIJING , 20 Jun (AP): \u2014 The United States and China may be back to talking at a high level, but their battle for global power and influence remains unchecked and mutual suspicion still runs deep.<\/p>\n
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken set low goals for his visit to Beijing this week, and he met them. About the most the rivals can hope for these days is to stop things getting much worse.<\/p>\n
Blinken pointed to difficult days ahead, while China\u2019s foreign ministry warned the relationship was in a downward spiral.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was clear coming in that the relationship was at a point of instability, and both sides recognized the need to work to stabilize it,\u201d Blinken said of the reason for his trip. \u201cAnd specifically, we believe that it\u2019s important to establish better lines of communication, open channels of communication, both to address misperceptions, miscalculations and to ensure that that competition doesn\u2019t veer into conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two-day visit to the Chinese capital helped restore top-level ties, but China rebuffed a U.S. request to resume military-to-military contacts. Neither government appears convinced of the other\u2019s honesty.<\/p>\n
While the two countries say they\u2019re not enemies intent on harming each other, they\u2019re not pretending to be friends.<\/p>\n
After meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday, Blinken acknowledged entrenched differences. \u201cWe have no illusions about the challenges of managing this relationship. There are many issues on which we profoundly, even vehemently, disagree,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Xi sounded a similar note, but suggested that the rivalry could be overcome.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe competition among major countries is not in line with the trend of the times and cannot solve the problems of the United States itself and the challenges facing the world,\u201d he told Blinken. \u201cChina respects the interests of the United States and will not challenge or supplant the United States. Similarly, the United States should also respect China and not harm its legitimate rights and interests.\u201d<\/p>\n
Danny Russel, the top U.S. diplomat for Asia during the Obama administration who is currently vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York, said these so-called \u201cnegative assurances\u201d -\u2013 that China respects the U.S. and is not looking to displace the United States. and that the U.S. is not trying to contain or hinder China -\u2013 are important to prevent a collapse in ties.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth sides clearly used the visit to help stabilize the relationship, which has been lurching toward dangerously intense confrontation,\u201d he said. And, although both the U.S. and China mentioned specific disagreements, especially about Taiwan, Russel said that \u201cthe public statements by the two sides were notably positive, particularly by recent standards.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Washington and Beijing remain deeply suspicious of each other\u2019s actions and intentions.<\/p>\n
From the U.S. perspective, China\u2019s rise has challenged its global position.<\/p>\n
Washington is racing to repair and shore up its relationships in regions where China has made inroads, particularly Africa and the Indo-Pacific, where the U.S. has opened or plans to open at least five new embassies this year.<\/p>\n
Behind the scenes, the U.S. believes China has ulterior and perhaps nefarious motives.<\/p>\n
An internal U.S. State Department document prepared earlier this year that focuses on China\u2019s role at the United Nations and other international organizations said Beijing \u201cbelieves that the People\u2019s Republic of China must dominate and shape international institutions, standards and values in order to advance both its domestic and global agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt views the established rules and norms in the U.N. system and other international organizations as privileging Westerns countries, supporting liberal democratic principles, and posing a threat to its monopoly on domestic political power and assertive global ambitions,\u201d said the document, which is marked \u201cSBU,\u201d which means \u201csensitive but unclassified\u201d and was obtained by The Associated Press.<\/p>\n
The document accuses China of having \u201cundertaken a systematic campaign to subvert existing principles and standards, promote authoritarian ideology and policy (and) reprioritize economic development over human rights and democratic governance.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition, it says China is working \u201cto undermine or reshape international law and standards, institutions, and values to legitimize its own development and governance models, including related to human rights (and) using its economic and political influence to compromise institutions\u2019 transparency, effectiveness, independence and alignment with foundational norms and values.\u201d<\/p>\n
From the Chinese perspective, the U.S. is clinging to fading glory as the world\u2019s lone superpower, and seeking to sabotage China\u2019s development and growing international stature by sowing mistrust about Beijing\u2019s intentions.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s top diplomat Wang Yi demanded on Monday that the U.S. stop \u201chyping the \u2018China threat theory\u2019\u201d and \u201curged the United States not to project on China the template that a strong country must seek hegemony.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also said China should not be judged \u201cin the vein of traditional Western powers,\u201d concluding that a change of perspective \u201cis the key on whether the U.S. policy towards China can truly return to objectivity and rationality.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rivals are now trying to negotiate more visits: Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang agreed in principle to an invitation to visit Washington and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen plans to visit China later this summer, while there are also discussions about a new meeting between Xi and President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not clear if China and the U.S. have found any issue of substance they can negotiate about. More talks could help with short-term easing of tensions, but it\u2019s unlikely to change the fact of a global rivalry.<\/p>\n
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BEIJING , 20 Jun (AP): \u2014 The United States and China may be back to talking at a high level, but their battle for global power and influence remains unchecked and mutual suspicion still runs deep. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken set low goals for his visit to Beijing this week, and he met […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-218802","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218802\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}