The meeting took place in Tianjin as there is no meeting in Beijing with foreign dignitaries due to the Covid-19 protocols.
Talks between the US and China in Tianjin (AFP)
In one-on-one talks with the US, China on Monday presented to Washington a list of steps expected from the Biden administration to resolve the “stagnation” in bilateral ties between the two countries. In the port city of Tianjin in north-east China, talks between Vice Foreign Minister Xi Feng and visiting US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman began with harsh remarks. Shi Feng launched a scathing attack on the US, accusing it of adopting a ‘repressive policy’.
Sharman is the top official to visit China in the US since President Joe Biden took office six months ago. Sherman held separate closed-door meetings at the resort in Tianjin city with Xi, in charge of US-China relations, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. During the talks, Xi accused the administration of US President Joe Biden of trying to stall and suppress China’s development. Shea also handed over a list to the US to stop its “wrong policies”.
China demands lifting of restrictions
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told Beijing that the list also included calls for the withdrawal of a judicial request from Canada to extradite Huawei official Meng Wanzhou, to end sanctions on Chinese officials and their families. Meng was arrested in Vancouver, Canada in 2018 on a bank fraud warrant issued by the previous Donald Trump administration.
China urged the removal of visa restrictions imposed on members of the ‘Communist Party of China’ and their families. It was also urged to lift restrictions imposed on Chinese students and companies and Confucian institutions. Sharman reached China from Mongolia on Sunday evening. The meeting took place in Tianjin as no meetings with foreign dignitaries are being held in Beijing due to the COVID-19 protocol. After his arrival, Sharman offered condolences to the families of 69 people who lost their lives in floods and storms last week in China’s Henan province.
tension between the two countries
Before the talks, Wang Yi said on Saturday that China would tell the US how to deal with other countries. Relations between the two countries had deteriorated during the tenure of former US President Donald Trump and there is a situation of tension between the two on technology, cyber security, human rights and other matters.
In an interview on Saturday, Wang accused the US of considering itself the best and using its power to pressure other countries. “China will never accept a country that claims to be superior to others,” he told China’s Phoenix television. He had said, ‘If America has not learned to treat other countries equally, then it is the responsibility of China and the international community to help America learn that.’
Some Americans consider China an enemy
Officials of the Biden administration said that the purpose of these talks is not to discuss any specific matter, but to keep the channels of high-level dialogue open. Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping are also likely to meet on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome in late October. During the talks, Xi said the root cause of serious problems in relations between the two countries is that some Americans portray China as an “imaginary enemy”. Xinhua news agency reported that Shi Feng appealed to the US to “change its highly misguided mindset and dangerous policy”.
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