US and China trade grievances

US SECRETARY of State Mike Pompeo and Chinese Foreign Minister and State Councillor Wang Yi aired their grievances in the open yesterday during a visit to Beijing by Washington’s top diplomat, amid worsening relations.

The exchange included typical diplomatic pleasantries, and the pair stressed the need for co-operation, but their remarks were unusually pointed.

“Recently, as the US side has been escalating trade friction toward China, it has also adopted a series of actions on Taiwan that harm China’s rights and interests, and has made groundless criticism of China’s domestic and foreign policies,” Wang said at a joint appearance with Pompeo.

“We believe this has been a direct attack on our mutual trust, and has cast a shadow on China-US relations. Chinese Foreign Minister

We demand the US side stop this kind of mistaken action.”

Wang urged the US to stop selling arms to Taiwan and to cut off official visits and military ties with the selfruled island Beijing claims as its own.

Pompeo, who was briefing Wang following his visit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said: “The issues that you characterised, we have a fundamental disagreement. We have great concerns about the actions China has taken. I look forward to discuss each of those because this is an incredibly important relationship.”

Pompeo and Wang openly disagreed over which side had called off a security dialogue that had been planned in Beijing this month.

Last week, US Vice-President Mike Pence stepped up the US pressure campaign against Beijing, going beyond the trade war by accusing China of “malign” efforts to undermine US President Donald Trump before midterm elections and of reckless military action in the South China Sea.

Pompeo also met China’s top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, a Politburo member who heads the ruling Communist Party’s foreign affairs commission.

Remarks took a more conventional tone, even as both agreed relations faced many challenges.

Pompeo did not have a scheduled meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, a fact that a senior US State Department official on the trip said was not strange, even though top US officials often meet Chinese heads of state on visits. But the senior US official said the US still expected co-operation with Beijing on efforts to denuclearise North Korea, whose chief ally is China.

If ties continued to deteriorate, there could be “profound changes” in the strategic environment for such regional issues as North Korea, China’s state-backed Global Times tabloid warned. | Reuters

This is a direct attack on mutual trust, and has cast a shadow on China-US relations. We demand the US stop mistaken action