Xi tells Blinken, ‘World needs stable Sino-US relationship’

Kathmandu: Chinese President Xi Jinping and the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in Beijing on Monday.

During the talks with Blinken, Xi called for mutual respect for Sino-American relationship. Xi also said that the stable relationship between the two super powers is the need of the world.

‘The world needs an overall stable Sino-US relationship, and whether China and the United States can get along has a bearing on the future and destiny of mankind,’ Xi told Blinken who landed in Beijing on Sunday for a two-day visit.

‘China respects the interests of the United States and will not challenge or replace the United States,’ Xi added, ‘Similarly, the United States must also respect China and not harm China’s legitimate rights and interests.’

Blinken is the first US Secretary of State to visit Beijing in five years and his talks with senior Chinese officials are seen as a key litmus test for whether some sort of detente can be forged at a time of lingering distrust.

Earlier on Monday, Blinken and China’s top foreign affairs adviser Wang Yi met and underscored the deep challenges in overcoming the mistrust and friction.

‘We must reverse the downward spiral of China-US relations, promote a return to a healthy and stable track, and jointly find the right way for China and the United States to co-exist in the new era,’ Wang said, adding that Blinken’s visit came at ‘a critical juncture in US-China relations, where a choice needs to be made between dialogue or confrontation, cooperation or conflict.’

Wang also reiterated that Taiwan is one of China’s ‘core interests’, over which it ‘has no room for compromise or backdown.’

During the meeting, Blinken underscored the need for both countries to responsibly manage their competition through ‘open channels of communication’ to ensure it ‘does not veer into conflict,’ State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.

The two global powers have been increasingly at loggerheads over a host of issues ranging from Beijing’s close ties with Moscow to American efforts to limit the sale of advanced technologies to China.

Since a Chinese surveillance ballon was detected floating across the US and hovering over sensitive military sites before ultimately being shot down by an American fighter plane earlier this year, relations have plunged to a new low and resulted in Blinken scrapping an earlier Beijing visit.