Wang Yi, Tillerson meeting signals ties ‘back on track’

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his US counterpart Secretary of State Rex Tillerson held a meeting on Friday on the sidelines of a G20 gathering in the German city of Bonn.

Chinese experts said the meeting signals the Sino-US ties, strained by US President Donald Trump’s earlier remarks on Taiwan, are getting back to normal track.

Details of what the two men discussed in the closed-door meeting were not available as of the press time.

The Chinese foreign ministry, announcing Wang’s trip, said on Thursday that Beijing hoped the G20 gathering would “send positive signals on supporting multilateralism, enhancing global governance and creating an innovative, interconnected, open and inclusive world economy.”

This meeting is important since it may dispel some uncertainties between China and the US after what Trump had said, and Wang and Tillerson’s meeting shows normal contact between the two governments has been established, Jin Canrong, associate dean of the School of International Studies at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Friday.

“Everything is under negotiation including one China,” Trump was quoted as saying in an interview with the Wall Street Journal in January.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a press conference in January that one-China policy is the political foundation of bilateral ties and “is nonnegotiable” in response to Trump’s statement.

It had appeared likely that Wang would not attend the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in the aftermath, but after Trump’s call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, it was announced that the trip would go ahead, AFP reported.

Trump and Xi spoke by phone on February 9, the first conversation between the two since Trump took office. In the call, the two leaders discussed “numerous topics,” and Trump committed to honoring the one-China policy, the White House said.

“This meeting may pave way for a future meeting between Xi and Trump but it will focus more on some specific topics related to bilateral ties,” Da Wei, director of the Institute of American Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times on Friday.

The Sino-US ties have been back to normal for now but there are still a bunch of issues to be solved, including the Taiwan question and trade frictions, Da said, adding that China is always willing to have communication but the problem lies on the US side which has changed its policies under different administrations.

China on Friday said the US should adhere to one-China policy and properly handle issues regarding Taiwan in response to reports that a former chief of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Thursday said that the US side will send marine corps to protect the new AIT site.

“We hope the US will abide by one-China policy and principles of the three China-US joint communiqués … China has always objected to US-Taiwan connections through official and military channels,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said, adding that China will keep an eye on the situation.