Global Courant
BEIJING — China has called on the United States to meet it halfway, saying bilateral relations are at their lowest point since diplomatic relations began, according to an official Chinese account of talks between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Bende on Sunday.
During a meeting that lasted more than five hours, Mr. Qin told Mr. Blinken that Taiwan is a core problem in the China-US relationship and the biggest source of risk.
“Qin Gang pointed out that the Taiwan issue is central to China’s core interests, the most pervasive issue and most pronounced risk in China-US relations,” a statement from China’s foreign ministry said.
“(The dip in bilateral relations) does not serve the fundamental interests of the two peoples or meet the shared expectations of the international community,” the statement quoted Mr Qin, adding that unexpected incidents should be handled in a “calm professional manner”. and rational” way.
Separately, the US State Department said Mr Blinken held “candid, substantive and constructive” talks with Mr Qin.
“The secretary stressed the importance of diplomacy and maintaining open communication channels across the range of issues to reduce the risk of misconceptions and miscalculations,” said Matthew Miller, spokesman for the US State Department.
Both also expressed a desire to stabilize the relationship and prevent competition from turning into a conflict, State Department officials added, noting that Mr Blinken had made it very clear that the US does not want to disengage from China.
Mr Blinken “also raised a number of concerns as well as opportunities to explore cooperation on shared transnational issues with the PRC where our interests align,” Mr Miller added in a statement, saying: he used the official name of the People’s Republic of China.
The spokesman said Mr Blinken had invited Mr Qin to visit Washington “to continue talks, and they agreed to schedule a mutual visit at a mutually convenient time”.
Both sides also agreed to expand future cultural and educational exchanges between the countries, admit more students, academics and business people, and expand more passenger flights between the countries.
Blinken is in China for a two-day visit, the first top US diplomat to do so in five years, amid frosty bilateral ties and tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
The trip was postponed from February after an alleged Chinese spy balloon flew into US airspace.
