The US and China have made “progress” in stabilising plunging bilateral relations, Xi Jinping declared on Monday as the Chinese president held a long-delayed meeting with US secretary of state Antony Blinken.
Xi’s comments represent the strongest signal yet that Beijing is willing to consider a truce in its increasingly acrimonious relationship with Washington.
Speaking in the Great Hall of the People with Blinken, the first US secretary of state to visit the Chinese capital since 2018, Xi said that whether China and the US could get along had a “bearing on the future and destiny of mankind”.
“The two countries should properly handle Sino-US relations with an attitude of being responsible to history, the people, and the world,” Xi said. In extensive talks between senior Chinese officials and Blinken during his visit, “the two sides . . . made progress and reached agreement on some specific issues”, he added.
Blinken had been scheduled to travel to Beijing early this year. But the trip was postponed after an alleged Chinese spy balloon flew over sensitive military sites in the US before it was shot down in February.
Ties between the countries have foundered, with the US concerned about China’s increasing military activity around Taiwan and its refusal to condemn Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
Beijing, meanwhile, accuses Washington of imposing export controls on advanced technology and strengthening security arrangements with regional allies to strategically contain China’s ambitions.
The Biden administration is keen to re-establish diplomacy and open channels of communication with Beijing to reduce the risk of what it calls “misperception and miscalculation” in the relationship.
China, meanwhile, is wrestling with flagging economic growth and worsening foreign investment sentiment that has been exacerbated by tensions with the US.
Xi told Blinken that China respected US interests and would not “challenge or replace the United States”.
“Similarly, the United States must also respect China and not harm China’s legitimate rights and interests. Neither party can shape the other according to its own wishes, let alone deprive the other of its legitimate right to development,” the Chinese president said.
Blinken’s meeting with Xi followed his talks with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi, who called for Washington and Beijing to reverse a “downward spiral” in relations, and with Qin Gang, China’s foreign minister.
According to China’s foreign ministry, Wang struck a constructive tone on ties in his meeting with Blinken, although he blamed Washington for the tension between both sides.
“We must reverse the downward spiral of Sino-US relations . . . and work together to find a correct way for China and the United States to get along in the new era,” the foreign ministry quoted Wang as saying.
He added that the “trough in Sino-US relations is rooted in the US’s erroneous perception of China”.
On Sunday, Blinken also met Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang for five-and-a-half hours of talks.
Blinken and Qin agreed to “effectively manage differences and advance dialogue, exchanges and co-operation”, including increasing the number of people-to-people exchanges and flights between their countries, Chinese state media said.
The US state department said Blinken emphasised to Qin, “the importance of diplomacy and maintaining open channels of communication across the full range of issues”.
“The Secretary raised a number of issues of concern, as well as opportunities to explore co-operation on shared transnational issues with the PRC [People’s Republic of China] where our interests align,” it said.
Analysts said the attempts to restart dialogue could help lay the ground for a face-to-face meeting between Xi and President Joe Biden during a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in the US in November.
Additional reporting by Maiqi Ding in Beijing