OfGuido Santevecchi
Meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken today in Beijing: on the agenda are the crisis in Ukraine, the crisis in the Middle East and increasingly strong trade tensions
FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
BEIJING – China and the United States agree on one point: we need to keep talking to each other. This is proven by the fact that Xi Jinping deemed it appropriate to receive Antony Blinken at the end of the US Secretary of State’s three-day mission between Shanghai and Beijing.
That the dialogue continues is comforting, but everyone points of tension remain unresolvedfrom the Chinese support for Putin’s war to the future of Taiwanpassing through the trade battle no holds barred.
According to the report of XinhuaXi in the audience granted in the Great Hall of the People he showed off his wisdom rhetoric and realism, observing that «over the decades our relations have gone through great rains and winds», but we must seek «inspiration for help each other instead of harming oneself.”
He called on America to adopt a “positive vision of Chinese development”, admitting that “there are numerous problems”, but ensuring that with “mutual optimism and openness a better relationship can be built”. Conclusion: the two superpowers «must be partners and not rivals”.
The emperor left the task of using a harsher tone to his mandarins. The Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned Blinken that even if there was «a stabilization of the diplomatic relationship, the negative factors continue to grow, they accumulate, they cause disturbances, they push towards a spiral.” The two ministers spoke for five hours and the list of recriminations it was long. “The unreasonable American measures to stifle our economy, our trade, our scientific and technological development are endless: this is not competition, but containment,” Wang said.
Effectively, from Washington they have arrived warnings and threats of tariffs to stop the flow of below-cost Chinese products that damage American (and European) industry and sanctions against Chinese companies that supply military technology to the Russians.
Wang Yi replied that Americans must “choose between cooperation and confrontation”. But it is clear that the Chinese do not know how far they can go in their support for Russia and in the new invasion of products exported below cost thanks to Party-State subsidies. Not even Xi can afford a definitive break, now that he is busy finding new outlets for China’s ailing economy. In essence, Beijing continues to call for cooperation (especially economic and commercial, according to its own interests), but does not make concessions.
Blinken says there have been progress, but clarity is needed on areas of conflict and this can be done “with intense diplomatic work, face to face”, to avoid misunderstandings and miscalculations. He used social media to say in a heartfelt tone that the United States and China «have a duty towards their two peoples and the entire world to manage their relationship responsibly». Before leaving you explained to the American press that you had clarified that Without China’s support, Moscow “could not continue its assault on Ukraine.” The American envoy says he has clearly communicated that if Beijing does not solve the problem (by stopping circumventing the sanctions with “dual use” civil and military supplies which have allowed Moscow to revive its arms industry) the United States will face it, with sanctions against Russian companies and banks. Blinken also denounced the “dangerous actions” in the South China Sea, reminding Xi «the unshakable American commitment to the defense of the Philippines» (massive joint military maneuvers with 11,000 US soldiers and 5,000 Filipinos are underway right now). Also a mention of the crisis in the Middle East: to reiterate that Beijing “can help calm tensions”.
In essence, Xi and Biden have used conciliatory tones, the two sides acknowledge that dialogue must be protected, even if strategic conflicts remain and seem irreconcilable.
Wang Yi emphasized the hard side of the Chinese position: he defined The accusation of “dual use” supplies to the Russians is “hypocritical”.relaunched just as Washington launched a $61 billion military aid package for Kiev. Taiwan remains “a red line” (even if we see no signs of acceleration in Chinese maneuvers in the Strait). And to the accusations of unfair commercial invasion, Beijing replies that it is “a false narrative from the West, which hides the evil intent to slow down China’s legitimate industrial development”.
A couple of weeks ago, receiving the German Chancellor Olaf Scholzwho came anyway to strengthen the colossal exchange, Xi Jinping argued that instead of protesting, America and Europe should be grateful to China which helped the globalized economy to lower inflationwith his electric carslithium batteries, photovoltaic equipment, which also have the merit of driving the green transition to combat climate change.
And if today Xi asked Blinken to “look at China in a positive way”, in an attempt to preserve the appearance of possible cooperation, in May he will again receive Vladimir Putin with full honors.
April 26, 2024 (modified April 26, 2024 | 3:28 pm)
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