US, China spar in first meeting under Biden

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Top U.S. and Chinese officials offered sharply different views of each other and the world as they met face-to-face for the first time since President Joe Biden took office.

In unusually pointed public remarks for a staid diplomatic meeting, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Communist Party foreign affairs chief Yang Jiechi took aim at each other’s country’s policies on Thursday at the start of two days of talks in Alaska. The contentious tone of their public comments suggested the private discussions would be even more rocky.

The meetings were a new test in increasingly troubled relations between the two countries, which are at odds over 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 coronavirus 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.

“Each of these actions threaten the rules-based order that maintains global stability,”î Blinken said of China’s actions in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and of cyber attacks on the United States and economic coercion against U.S. allies. “That’s why they’re not merely internal matters, and why we feel an obligation to raise these issues here today.”î

Yang responded angrily by demanding the U.S. stop pushing its own version of democracy when the United States itself 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 “condescensionî” from Blinken and others.

Blinken appeared to be annoyed by the tenor and length of the comments, which went on for more than 15 minutes. He said his impressions from speaking with world leaders and on his just-concluded trip to Japan and South Korea were entirely different from the Chinese position.

“I’m hearing deep satisfaction that the United States is back, that we’re reengaged,î” Blinken retorted. “I’m also hearing deep concern about some of the actions your government is taking.”î

U.S.-China ties have been torn for years, and the Biden administration has yet to signal whether it will to back away from the hard-line stances taken under Donald Trump.