US, China wrap up round of talks marked by acrimony
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Top U.S. and Chinese officials wrapped up two days of contentious talks in Alaska on Friday after having traded sharp and unusually public barbs over vastly different views of each other and the world in their first face-toface meeting since President Joe Biden took office.
The two sides finished the meetings after an opening session Thursday in which they attacked each other. The U.S. accused the Chinese delegation of “grandstanding” and Beijing fired back, saying there was a “strong smell of gunpowder and drama” that was entirely the fault of the Americans.
“We got a defensive response,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after the meetings concluded. “We wanted to share with them the significant concerns that we have about a number of the actions that China has taken, and behaviors exhibiting concerns, shared by our allies and partners. And we did that. We also wanted to lay out very clearly, our own policies, priorities, and worldview.”
There was no immediate response from the Chinese side, although the tone of Thursday’s comments suggested the private discussions would be rocky.
As they opened the talks, Blinken said the Biden administration is united with its allies in pushing back against Chinese authoritarianism. In response, Chinese Communist Party foreign affairs chief Yang Jiechi accused Washington of hypocrisy on human rights and other issues.
The meetings were a new test in increasingly troubled relations between the two countries, which are at odds over a range of issues from trade to human rights in Tibet, Hong Kong and China’s western Xinjiang region, as well as over Taiwan, China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea and the pandemic.
Blinken said the Biden administration is united with its allies in pushing back against China’s increasing authoritarianism and assertiveness at home and abroad. Yang then unloaded a list of Chinese complaints about the U.S. and accused Washington of hypocrisy for criticizing Beijing on human rights and other issues.
“Each of these actions threaten the rules-based order that maintains global stability,” Blinken said of China’s actions in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and of cyberattacks on the United States and economic coercion against U.S. allies.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan amplified the criticism, saying China has undertaken an “assault on basic values.”
“We do not seek conflict but we welcome stiff competition,” he said.
Yang responded angrily by demanding the U.S. stop pushing its own version of democracy when the country has been roiled by domestic discontent. He also accused the U.S. of failing to deal with its own human rights problems and took issue with what he said was “condescension” from Blinken, Sullivan and other U.S. officials.
“China will not accept unwarranted accusations from the U.S. side,” he said. “There is no way to strangle China.”