US-China: Is The Ice Thawing?
By Asad Mirza, New Age Islam
30 April 2024
Last week the US Secretary of
State, Antony Blinken was in China, ostensibly to diffuse the tension build-up
between the two super powers. However, in this latest bilateral exchange, China
appears to have taken an upper hand over the US.
------
The top American and Chinese diplomats held tough talks in
Beijing last week, as the sparring superpowers sought to clarify their growing
differences on an array of bilateral and global issues that could further
strain the already tense relationship.
While US Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed that ties
are “beginning to stabilise,” his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, did not mince
words when addressing a number of contentious topics, including Ukraine, Taiwan
and trade issues.
US Secretary of State
Antony Blinken
-----
At the Beijing meeting, Wang warned Washington not to cross
China's red lines on sovereignty, security and development, adding that
“negative factors” have been mounting between the world’s two largest economies
as the relationship “faces all kinds of disruptions”. Meaning, it told the US
to keep its hands off the Chinese adventurism in the South China Sea.
“China's legitimate development rights have been
unreasonably suppressed and our core interests are facing challenges,"
Wang told Blinken, asking whether the two countries should keep moving forward
or “return to a downward spiral”.
For his part, Blinken, who also visited Shanghai and met
President Xi Jinping during his latest three-day China trip, said he warned
Beijing directly about its assertive moves around the Philippines and vowed to
defend the ally.
Blinken said he raised Beijing's "dangerous actions in
the South China Sea" during meetings with top leaders. Earlier, Blinken
had promised to be “very clear, very direct” in the talks about “the areas
where we have differences and where the United States stands”.
Blinken was hoping to build upon the progress made in recent
months on resuming counter-narcotics cooperation, military-to-military
communications, artificial intelligence and strengthening people-to-people
ties.
Both Wang and Biden also referred to the heightened trade
tensions between the two sides amid consistent complaints that Chinese
overcapacity is flooding the US market and undercutting American firms. Though
for this the US and the wider West itself is to be blamed
Antony Blinken also met Chinese President Xi Jinping in
Beijing. During the meeting Xi told Blinken that the world’s two biggest
economies should “be partners, not rivals.” according to state broadcaster
CCTV.
During their meeting in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People,
Xi proposed three major principles: mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and
win-win cooperation for improving ties with the US.
Chinese President Xi
Jinping
-----
Apparently, Xi was reported as saying that the earth is big
enough to hold the common development and… prosperity of China and the United
States and China would be pleased to see a confident and open, prosperous and
developing US, adding that he hopes the US can also take a “positive view of
China’s development. When this fundamental problem is solved… relations can
truly stabilise, get better, and move forward.
However, China’s increasing closeness to Russia in the wake
of its invasion of Ukraine has heightened US distrust. Blinken told reporters
that during his discussions, he reiterated serious American concern about the
People’s Republic of China providing components that are powering Russia’s
brutal war of aggression against Ukraine.
The Wall Street Journal reported ahead of Blinken’s trip
that the US might threaten to remove some Chinese banks from the global
financial system if China does not curtail outflow of dual-use components to
Russia.
Officials of both countries said they had made progress on a
few smaller, pragmatic fronts, including setting up the first U.S.-China talks
on artificial intelligence in the coming weeks. They also said they would
continue improving communications between their militaries and increase
cultural exchanges. But on fundamental strategic issues, each side held little
hope of moving the other, and they appeared wary of the possibility of sliding
into further conflict.
Meanwhile, In an interview with CNN at the tail end of his
China trip, Mr Blinken said he’d reiterated a warning President Joe Biden had
delivered to Chinese leader Xi Jinping during their November 2023 summit, in
which Mr Biden told Mr Xi not to get involved in the 2024 election. He said
recently the United States has learned of Chinese efforts to “influence and
arguably interfere” with this year’s upcoming general election and is working
to stop them.
China professes that it does not get involved in other
nations’ internal affairs, but over the years Beijing and its allies and
affiliates have been the subject of election-meddling accusations from multiple
countries.
Earlier this month, Microsoft warned that China might use AI
to disrupt elections in the United States, India, and South Korea in 2024. The
report said that “China tacitly approved efforts to try to influence a handful
of midterm races involving members of both US political parties” with the idea
to try to prevent certain candidates perceived as anti-China from winning and
support certain candidates perceived to be pro-China.
All in all, the visit seemed to be full of rhetoric, and
seemed to have gained nothing much for the United States but it gave an upper
hand to China over the US on reiterating its position on many contentious
issues. In the meanwhile, China continues to support Russia over Ukraine, and
be a continuous headache for its neighbours in the South China Sea besides
asserting its right over Taiwan, and being an international disruptor on major
trade and technological issues while building-up its military power.
Moreover, the visit came at a time when the risk of
confrontation between the two is growing, and areas where two could work
together seem to be shrinking fast. But the message conveyed was that both
countries are trying to salvage what they could.
-----
Asad Mirza is a Delhi-based senior political and
international affairs commentator.
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/current-affairs/us-china-ice-thawing-blinken-jinping/d/132231
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism