US State Secretary Antony Blinken hosted Chinese
Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is on his long-anticipated visit to Washington to
maintain an open communication between two countries, on Thursday.
During the meeting, Yi highlighted United States and
China have disagreements and require “in-depth” and “comprehensive” dialogue to
mitigate misunderstandings and stabilize relationship, and “return it to the
track of healthy, stable and sustainable development,” reported Reuters.
Stressing on the need to resolve the two countries’ common
interests and challenges, Wang speaking through an interpreter said, “Therefore,
China and United States need to have dialogue. Not only should we resume
dialogue, the dialogue should be in-depth and comprehensive.”
Responding to Wang Yi, Blinken stated, “I agree with
what the foreign minister said.”
Earlier, Blinken had said he looked forward to
constructive dialogues with his Chinese counterpart. During the meeting,
Blinken extended his condolences on the passing of China’s former Premier Li
Keqiang.
Wang’s three-day visit is the latest in a series of
diplomatic engagements between the two strategic rivals as they seek to manage
their differences to avoid conflict.
The tour primarily is to prepare for an expected
summit between President Joe Biden and President Xi Jinping in November.
Blinken and Wang will continue their discussions on
Friday.
The Israel-Hamas conflict has added a fresh dynamic to
the petulant relationship of the superpowers, and Washington is expecting Beijing
can use its influence with Iran to prevent an escalation into a wider war in
the Middle East.
Wang may meet US national security adviser Jake
Sullivan on Friday. Besides, he is expected to speak with Biden during his
visit to the White House, although it is uncertain how substantial their
interaction will be.
The Biden administration’s concern with Beijing has
been to avoid intense competition between the two largest economies and
disagreements on a host of issues – including trade, Taiwan and the South China
Sea – from veering into conflict.
However, while both Beijing and Washington have spoken
of looking for areas where they can work together, and Xi said on Wednesday
China was willing to cooperate on global challenges, experts do not expect
immediate progress.
“The Chinese certainly have an interest in preventing
a direct US-Iranian confrontation, as they are major oil consumers and that
would spike prices,” said Jon Alterman, head of the Middle East program at
Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“Still, the Chinese are unlikely to do any heavy
lifting here. I expect they’ll want a seat at the table when the Israel-Gaza
struggle gets resolved, but they don’t feel much need or ability to hasten
resolution.”
Shi Yinhong, professor of international relations at
Renmin University of China, said Beijing exerting its influence over Iran was “almost
the only serious and practical US expectation of China on the Middle East
situation.”
However, Shi added, “US position on Iran is far from
acceptable to China and vice versa. Mutual compromise on this issue could be
too limited and small to be of any significance.”
Wang’s visit to Washington comes after many top US
officials, including Blinken, visited Beijing in the past several months.
Analysts expect Wang’s interactions to focus on
preparations for an anticipated meeting between Biden and Xi on the sidelines
of the summit of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries in San
Francisco from November 11 to 17. It would be Biden and Xi’s first in-person
meeting since a summit in Bali last November.
NE Watch Desk With Inputs From Reuters
