US is ‘fundamentally at odds’ with China, says top American diplomat

Blinken warned the Chinese against betting against the US and Sullivan chided them for their lack of confidence in dealing with criticism.

The United States and China are “fundamentally at odds”, American Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday after the conclusion of two days of talks, he and National Secretary Adviser Jake Sullivan, held with their Chinese counterparts in Anchorage, Alaska.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan (R) address the media following the closed-door morning talks between the United States and China upon conclusion of their two-day meetings in Anchorage, Alaska on March 19, 2021. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / POOL / AFP) (AFP)

Blinken also said the Chinese were “defensive” when the US side confronted them with “concerns” about Muslim-majority Xinjiang province, Hong Kong, Tibet, and Taiwan.

Blinken and Sullivan met China’s Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs Yang Jiechi, who is the top Chinese diplomat and State Councilor Wang Yi over Thursday and Friday in a first high-level meeting between the two countries after President Joe Biden took office.

The meetings were expected to be contentious as they took place in the shadow of the first sanctions recently imposed by the Biden administration on China over Hong Kong.

But fireworks started early during the opening remarks, usually an occasion for perfunctory diplomatic homilies. Blinken set the tone, bluntly raising US “concerns” over Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Tibet and Taiwan. Yang led the Chinese pushback with a long criticism of the US on democratic values and human rights.

In launching a frontal attack on the Chinese during the opening remarks, Blinken, a close foreign policy aide to Biden going back decades, took a risk, not anticipating Director Yang’s long rebuke going way over two minutes allotted to every speaker by mutual consent. Blinken and Sullivan retaliated by allowing themselves, as hosts, a second round of remarks. And they used that additional time for more plain-speaking.

Blinken warned the Chinese against betting against the US and Sullivan chided them for their lack of confidence in dealing with criticism. The American side dug in on that theme in remarks, wrapping up the meet.

“We certainly know and knew going in that there are a number of areas where we are fundamentally at odds, including China’s actions in Xinjiang, with regard to Hong Kong, Tibet, increasingly Taiwan, as well as actions that it’s taken in cyberspace,” Blinken told reporters.

The top American diplomat had raised these issues in his opening remarks on Thursday that had infuriated the Chinese. Blinken doubled down on it in his Friday remarks and also challenged the Chinese to grow up, in regard to criticism, building on Sullivan’s taunt from the Thursday dust-up.

“A confident country is able to look hard at its own shortcomings and constantly seek to improve,” Sullivan had said.

But the Americans also underscored areas of cooperation with China going forward. “On Iran, on North Korea, on Afghanistan, on climate, our interests intersect,” Blinken said, adding, and highlighting in the same breath the differences.

“On economics, on trade, on technology, we told our counterparts that we are reviewing these issues with close consultation with Congress, with our allies and partners.”