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Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the countries must not engage in “vicious competition” as bilateral relations remain strained over issues such as the South China Sea, Taiwan and Beijing’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine .
At a meeting on Friday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Xi told Blinken that the U.S. and China should be partners, not rivals, and should seek “mutual success” not to “harm each other,” according to Chinese state media .
“China is happy to see a confident, open and prosperous country. . . United States. We hope that the US side can also see China’s development positively and proactively,” said the Chinese president.
“Once this fundamental problem is resolved,” only then will “the China-US relationship truly stabilize, improve and move forward,” Xi added.
In talks Friday morning with Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Blinken raised U.S. allegations that China was supporting Russia’s defense industry and stressed the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea and around Taiwan, according to a State Department spokesman.
Wang told Blinken, who is on a three-day trip to China, that while dialogue and cooperation have increased in “various areas,” “on the other hand, negative factors in Sino-American relations are still increasing and accumulating.” state media reported.
Wang added that the U.S. should respect China’s “red lines,” such as Beijing’s territorial claims on Taiwan, and stop arms sales to the island. Wang also criticized Washington’s “endless measures” to block technology exports to China and complaints about Chinese industrial overcapacity.
Chinese officials say cooperation between the superpowers has made progress since a rapprochement in November when U.S. President Joe Biden met Xi in San Francisco, particularly in curbing sales of fentanyl precursors by Chinese companies.
But tensions have also increased in the South China Sea, which China claims almost entirely as its own. Chinese ships have tried to prevent the Philippines from resupplying marines on the Sierra Madre, a rusty ship that ran aground on Second Thomas Shoal, a flooded reef within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
The US has warned that its mutual defense treaty with the Philippines also applies to the Sierra Madre, with Biden expressing “deep concern” about the matter in a phone call with Xi this month.
State media said Wang and Blinken agreed to continue exchanges between the two militaries and consultations in other areas, such as cooperation on drug control, climate change and artificial intelligence.
“Both sides are ready to strengthen communication on international and regional current issues,” state media reported.
Additionallyl reporting by Wenjie Ding in Beijing