China on Monday blamed the US for undermining ties, with foreign minister Qin Gang telling ambassador Nicholas Burns that bilateral relations have “encountered cold ice” because of a series of “erroneous words and deeds” by Washington.
Qin, in his first meeting with Burns as China’s foreign minister, in Beijing, said the US must correct its handling of the “Taiwan issue” and stop the hollowing out of the “one China” principle, calling it the “red line” in ties between the two countries.
This was the highest level meeting between diplomats of the two countries after a Chinese balloon was brought down by the US military in February, crushing efforts to mend ties following the visit of then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s to Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy claimed by Beijing last August.
Referring to President Xi Jinping and US counterpart Joe Biden’s meeting at the G20 summit last November, Qin said “…the hard-won positive development momentum between the two sides was destroyed by erroneous words and actions of the US”.
“As the agreed negotiations and cooperation agenda have been disrupted, it is imperative to stabilise China-US relations and avoid a downward spiral and prevent accidents between the two countries,” Qin told Burns.
“The US side should correct its perception of China, return to rationality, and achieve mutual success in the better development of each country,” Qin said, according to CGTN, China’s official English broadcaster, adding that Washington should not talk about communication on the one hand, while constantly “suppressing and containing” China on the other.
Referring to Taiwan, Qin said the US must respect China’s “red line”, stop harming China’s sovereignty, security and development interests.
“We must persist in handling unexpected incidents in bilateral relations in a calm, professional and pragmatic manner to avoid further impacts on Sino-US relations,” Qin said.
In April, China warned of “consequences” and deployed an aircraft carrier group near Taiwan in response to the high-profile meeting between the self-governing island’s President Tsai Ing-wen and US House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, in Simi Valley, California, calling their talks “seriously erroneous” and “dangerous”.
Ties between the world’s two largest economies have been hit by several problems in recent years including trade, rights situation in Chinese provinces of Xinjiang and Tibet and Beijing’s hostility against Washington-led mechanisms like the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.
Despite trade-related and other disputes, business between the two countries is healthy.
“US-China trade in goods hit a new record in 2022, according to data published by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) last week. Total imports and exports grew 2.5 % year-on-year to reach US$690.6 billion, breaking the previous record of US$658.8 billion set in 2018,” a February report by Dezan Shira & Associates, a professional services firm, said.
