Upbeat tone marks Wang, Tillerson talk
The first meeting between Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday ended with an upbeat tone, which observers said will help clarify the US policy toward China and boost collaboration between the two countries on major bilateral and international affairs.
Beijing is ready to “strengthen communication, boost mutual trust, manage and control differences and deepen cooperation” with Washington, Wang told Tillerson as they met on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Bonn, Germany. It was the first high-level official meeting between the two countries since President Donald Trump took office.
The goal is to “achieve a greater development of China-US ties” during Trump’s presidency, Wang said.
Tillerson said that only friendship could define the relationship, and the two countries will maintain and improve dialogue and cooperation in such areas as the economy, finance and security, according to the Foreign Ministry.
The media and many experts have paid attention to the talk since Tillerson, the former CEO of Exxon Mobil, told his Senate confirmation hearing that the US should block China’s access to islands in the South China Sea.
On Friday, Tillerson also reassured Wang on the one China policy.
During a phone call earlier this month, Trump told President Xi Jinping the new US administration honors the one-China policy, and they both envisioned a better development of the ties from a new starting point.
Ruan Zongze, vice-president of the China Institute of International Studies, said “the talks further clarified the new US administration’s China policies”, and Tillerson’s reaffirming the one-China policy helps dismiss widespread doubts over the bilateral ties.
Ruan said many international issues, including the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue and Syria, need renewed coordination between China and the US.
Wu Xinbo, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, said the meeting was pragmatic and indicates that key mechanisms, such as the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue, will continue in previous or similar forms.
Zuo Xiying, a research fellow at the National Academy of Development and Strategy at Renmin University of China, said the two countries can strengthen, and even create, mechanisms for exchanging views on strategies and policies.
Wang also met with his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, on Friday and warned him over “negative moves taken by Tokyo recently over major sensitive issues”.
Earlier this month, Tokyo asked the Trump administration for, and was given, reassurance that China’s Diaoyu Islands are covered by the security umbrella of a US-Japan defense treaty.
The talks further clarified the new US administration’s China policies.” Ruan Zongze, vice-president of the China Institute of International Studies
Beijing reiterated its strong opposition to official exchanges and military connections between the United States and Taiwan, amid recent reports that the US Marines would be posted in a nonprofit organization in Taiwan.
“China consistently and firmly opposes the US and Taiwan engaging in any form of official contact or military connection,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in a daily news conference in Beijing on Friday.
Geng was responding to reports that Stephen Young, former director of the American Institute in Taiwan said US Marines would be posted at the new site of the organization.
In a conference held by a Washington think tank on Wednesday, Young said he had pushed strongly for a US Marines detachment to protect the organization, and the new compound would include a “Marines house”, which would be “a symbolic expression” of the US commitment to Taiwan, Taipei Times reported.
On Feb 10, President Xi Jinpin gandhis US counterpart Donald Trump had a telephone conversation, during which Trump said the US government would adhere to the one-China-policy.
“China hopes the US will observe the one-China policy and the principles of the three joint communiques between China and the US, and that it will handle the Taiwan-related issue prudently and properly,” Geng said.
Geng said he had noted reports on the possible deployment and needed to gain more information on the situation.
The US posts Marines in its embassies and consulates to guard their security. Since 1979, when the US established diplomatic ties with the People’s Republic of China, there have been no US Marines stationed in the American Institute in Taiwan.
Zuo Xiying, a US foreign policy researcher at the National Academy of Development and Strategy at Renmin University of China, said Young’s comments may indicate the US undertaking a “petty act” in an attempt to strengthen relations with Taiwan.
The foundation of China-US ties will remain unaffected as long as the US adheres to the one-China policy, but they will be affected if the US deploys Marines at the institute, Zuo said.