China ‘will talk,’ but only if US changes its tune

Beijing has stated its terms for what it demands that Washington must do if the Americans want to resume dialogue. Those demands include:

• Stop pressing Taiwan issues.
• Don’t overreact in cases such as the recent balloon incidents.
• Quit imposing new sanctions on the Chinese technology sector. 

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang met US Ambassador Nicholas Burns in Beijing on Monday morning before departing for a five-day visit to Germany, France and Norway in the afternoon.

Qin told Burns that China and the US should avoid a “downward spiral” in their relationship but the US must first correct its perception of China and return to rationality. He said the US cannot seek talks while at the same time suppressing China. He said the US must not deviate from the one-China principle over the Taiwan matter.

The meeting came after Burns said in a webcast on May 2 that the US would continue to provide defensive arms to Taiwan and help the island’s authorities build up deterrence.

It was the first meeting with Burns since Qin took charge of the Foreign Ministry on December 30 last year. Their previous last meeting had been held in Beijing last October after the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. At that time Qin was Chinese ambassador to the United States.

“Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden,” Qin said during Monday’s session, “reached important consensus in the Bali meeting last November.” However, “a series of erroneous words and deeds by the US since then has undermined the hard-won positive momentum of Sino-US relations,” he complained.

“There is an urgency to stabilize Sino-US relations, avoid a downward spiral and prevent accidents between China and the US,” he said. “This should be the most basic consensus between the two powers and a bottom line safeguarded by both sides.”

Qin said the China side will handle Sino-US relations by adhering to the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation proposed by Xi. He said Beijing hopes the US will reflect deeply, walk with China in the same direction, and push Sino-US relations out of the difficult situation and back on track.

He added that the US should handle unexpected incidents in the relationship between the two countries in a calm, professional and pragmatic manner.

In late January, a Chinese balloon was seen flying in North American airspace. The US, calling it a spy balloon, shot it down and collected the residue. China insisted it was a “meteorological balloon.” The uproar resulted in the cancellation of a scheduled trip to China by US State Secretary Antony Blinken in early February. Last month, Blinken said he was ready to visit Beijing but he was rejected.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo also have said they want to visit China this year but have not yet seen any progress.

US-China conflicts

On May 2, Burns commented on US-China relations during a virtual event organized by the Stimson Center, a Washington-based think tank. He said the two powers held different views on the Taiwan matter, on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and on strategic competition in the high technology sector.

“Under the Taiwan Relations Act, and that goes all the way back to January 1, 1979, retroactively applied, the US has the obligation, as well as the interest, to make sure that we can provide defensive arms to Taiwan so that the Taiwan authorities can have a proper defense and we can help them build up deterrence,” Burns said.

“If Taiwan has sufficient deterrence in place, and if other countries around the world are supporting a peaceful resolution, one would hope that that would lead the Chinese to understand the consequences of the use of force in the Taiwan Strait,” he said.

He reiterated the US government’s stance of supporting the right of successive US House speakers Nancy Pelosi and Kevin McCarthy to meet with the Taiwan leaders.

Beijing said US arms sales have crossed its red line as they help promote Taiwan independence. State media said Biden promised in the Bali meeting that the US would not seek to support Taiwan independence but asserted that his words did not match his actions.

Caikaoxiaoxi.com, a state media outlet in China, published an article on Sunday evening with the title “The US has staged ‘Say one thing and do another’ to the extreme.”

The Beijing-based writer of the article adds: “The US used the so-called intensifying situation in the Taiwan Strait as an excuse to pressurize China on different international occasions.”

He criticizes the US for having approved a $400 million arms sales deal to Taiwan last December and for having passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which will provide the island with $10 billion in security assistance over the next five years. He also slams the US for finalizing the sale of 400 anti-ship missiles to Taiwan and sending a delegation of 25 arms dealers to visit the island last week.

Investment curbs

According to Burns, speaking on the May 2 webcast, Beijing had blocked eight communication channels with the US after Pelosi visited Taiwan on August 2 last year. He said he was called into the Chinese Foreign Ministry on August 3 evening and was told China’s stance, which was later published in a statement on August 4.

Then-Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who was on a trip in Cambodia, in that August 4 statement described the US as the biggest disrupter of the peace of the Taiwan Strait. He said Pelosi’s visit had left China with no choice but to retaliate. The release of the statement was followed by the three days of People’s Liberation Army drills near Taiwan.  

The Bali meeting had temporarily eased the tensions between the two countries but then came the balloon incident in late January and the manifestation of stronger economic ties between China and Russia in March, Burns said.

“In recent weeks, in the last month or so, there’s been consistent communication between myself and senior officials in the foreign ministry, my colleagues in the US Mission and their counterparts in the foreign ministry here,” he said. “That’s been a good sign, that we’ve been able to pass messages, trade views, talk about difficult issues, sometimes at great length, here in Beijing.”

On April 18, Politico reported that Biden was set to sign an executive order that would restrict US companies and private equity and venture capital funds from investing in China’s microchips, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, biotechnology and clean energy projects and firms. Biden will try to announce these investment curbs before the G7 Summit and ask US allies for support.

Chinese pundit’s views

A columnist of the state-owned Chengdu Radio and Television writes in an article on Monday that Qin has given the US an out by meeting Burns and telling him all Beijing’s demands. 

“Since the trade war broke out in 2018, there have actually been no dialogues and negotiations between China and the US,” he says.

“Firstly, the US’s attitude is not sincere, as it has imposed different curbs against China. Secondly, the US keeps creating new conflicts to worsen Sino-US relations. Thirdly, Biden and Blinken have said many times that the US wants to talk only if China is submissive to it. It is an unreasonable demand.”

He adds: “Finally, the China side stressed that dialogue must be conducted on the basis of equality, mutual benefit and mutual respect.”

The writer says China will not talk to the US for the moment due to the needs to safeguard its national interest and develop a stable bilateral relationship. He says if the US can fulfil China’s demands, both sides can resume dialogues immediately.

Read: US investment curbs on tech firms infuriate China

Follow Jeff Pao on Twitter at @jeffpao3