U.S., China finish testy face-to-face Alaska talks

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Top U.S. and Chinese officials wrapped up two days of contentious talks in Alaska on Friday after trading sharp and unusually public barbs over vastly different views of each other and the world in their first face-to-face meeting since President Joe Biden took office.

The two sides finished the meetings after an opening session in which they attacked each other in an unusually public way. 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.

The meetings in Anchorage 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 Xinjiang region, as well as over Taiwan, China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea and the coronavirus pandemic.

“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,” he said. “And we did that. We also wanted to lay out very clearly, our own policies, priorities, and worldview. And we did that too.”

In separate comments, Chinese Communist Party foreign affairs chief Yang Jiechi said dialogue was the only way to resolve differences, but he also made clear that Beijing had no intention of backing down.

“China is going to safeguard our national sovereignty, security and our interests to develop China,“he said. “It is an irreversible trend,” he said.

“We hope the United States is not going to underestimate China’s determination to defend its territory, safeguard its people and defend its righteous interests,” he said.

As they opened the talks on Thursday, Blinken said the Biden administration is united with its allies in pushing back against Chinese authoritarianism. In response, Yang accused Washington of hypocrisy.

“Each of these actions threaten the rules-based order that maintains global stability,” Blinken said of China’s actions. “That’s why they’re not merely internal matters, and why we feel an obligation to raise these issues here today.”