U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday and said they agreed to “stabilize” severely deteriorated U.S.-China ties. However, America’s top diplomat left Beijing with his most important request denied: improved military communications.
Both the top U.S. diplomat and Xi agreed that a more stable relationship is crucial because a war between the world’s two largest economies would have far-reaching consequences.
U.S. sanctions were cited by China as the reason they would not consider Washington’s request to resume military-to-military communication channels. Both sides seemed adamant about their respective stances on a wide range of issues, from Taiwan and trade to human rights and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Nonetheless, Yang Tao, China’s top diplomat in the Americas, stated that Blinken’s trip to China “marks a new beginning.”
About the obstacles to military exchanges, he said, “The U.S. side is surely aware of why there is difficulty in military-to-military exchanges,” laying the blame on U.S. sanctions, which Blinken claimed were solely motivated by concerns for American national security.
Yang said that the sides had agreed to stop a downward trend in relations when asked about specific progress. The official added that the Chinese foreign minister, Qin, accepted Blinken’s invitation to visit the United States.
