Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi blamed the US for the downturn in relations and said US policy had been derailed by what he called a misperception of China as a threat. “Many people believe that the United States suffers from cinephobia,” he said, according to a Chinese statement. “If such an expansion of the threat is allowed to develop, US policy towards China will be a dead end without a way out.” In five hours of talks in their first meeting since October, Blinken said he expressed deep concern about China’s stance on Russia’s actions in Ukraine and did not believe Beijing’s protests that it is neutral in the conflict. The talks were organized in a new effort to try to rein in, or at least manage, the rampant hostility that has come to define recent relations between Washington and Beijing. “We are concerned about the DPRK’s alignment with Russia,” Blinken told reporters after the meeting in the Indonesian resort of Bali. He said it is difficult to be “neutral” in a conflict in which there is a clear aggressor, but even that was possible, “I don’t think China is acting in a neutral way.” The Chinese statement said the two sides had an in-depth exchange of views on Ukraine, but gave no details. The Biden administration had hoped that China, with its long history of opposing what it sees as interference in its domestic affairs, would take a similar stance to Russia and Ukraine. But he did not, opting instead for what US officials see as a hybrid position that harms the rules-based international order. Blinken said every nation, including China, stands to lose if that order is eroded. The two men met a day after they both attended a gathering of top diplomats from the Group of 20 rich and major developing countries that ended without a joint call to end Russia’s war in Ukraine or a plan on how to deal with its fallout. in food and energy security. But Blinken said he believed Russia had come away from the G-20 meeting isolated and alone, as most participants voiced their opposition to the Ukraine war. However, ministers were unable to agree on a unified G-20 call to end the conflict. “There was a strong consensus and Russia remained isolated,” Blinken said of the individual condemnations of Russia’s actions by various ministers, some of whom avoided talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. He noted that Lavrov left the meeting early, possibly because he didn’t like what he was hearing from his counterparts. “It was very important that he heard loud and clear from around the world the condemnation of Russia’s aggression,” Blinken said, adding: “We see no sign that Russia at this point is ready to engage in diplomacy.” On China, Blinken said he and Wang discussed a range of contentious issues, from tariffs and trade and human rights to Taiwan and disputes in the South China Sea, all complicated by the Chinese position on Ukraine. Wang called on the US to lift tariffs on Chinese imports as soon as possible, stop interfering in his country’s internal affairs and refrain from harming its interests in the name of human rights and democracy. He also accused the US of using “slicing salami” tactics on Taiwan, a self-governing island that China claims as its territory and says should be brought under its control. Just two days earlier, the countries’ top militaries had faced off over Taiwan during a virtual meeting. Blinken said he emphasized US concerns about China’s “increasingly provocative rhetoric and activity near Taiwan and the vital importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.” He added that he had also raised human rights concerns about minorities in Tibet and the western region of Xinjiang. Wang refuted some “wrong views of the US” on Xinjiang, Hong Kong and the South China Sea, the Chinese statement said. US officials had said in advance that they did not expect any significant progress from Blinken’s talks with Wang. But they said they hoped the conversation could help keep lines of communication open and create “guardrails” to guide the world’s two largest economies as they navigate increasingly complex and potentially explosive issues. “We are committed to managing this relationship, this competition responsibly, as people expect us to do,” Blinken said. The United States and China have taken increasingly confrontational positions, including on Ukraine, that some fear could lead to miscalculation and conflict. The US is watching warily as China refuses to criticize the Russian invasion, while condemning Western sanctions against Russia and accusing the US and NATO of provoking the conflict. At the G-20 meeting, Wang made an oblique reference to China’s global stability policy, saying that “putting one’s own security above the security of others and intensifying military blocs will divide the international community and will make itself less safe,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry. On Thursday, China’s chairman of the general staff, General Li Zuocheng, reprimanded his US counterpart General Mark Milley for Washington’s support for Taiwan. Li called on the US to stop military “collusion” with Taiwan, saying China has “no room for compromise” on issues affecting its “core interests”. The meeting between Li and Milley followed fiery comments by Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe at a regional security conference last month, which was also attended by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Wei accused the United States of trying to “hijack” the support of countries in the Asia-Pacific region to turn them against Beijing, saying Washington was seeking to advance its own interests “under the guise of multilateralism.” At the same meeting in Singapore, Austin said China was causing instability with its claim to Taiwan and increased military activity in the region. ——— Associated Press writer Ken Moritsugu in Beijing contributed to this report.
