The first high-level rally of U.S. and Chinese officials under President Joe Biden began with an exchange of insults at a pre-meeting press event Thursday, according to NBC News.
The controversial tone of their public comments suggested that private discussions would be even more difficult.
Mr Blinken said Mr Biden’s administration was united with its allies in pushing back China’s growing authoritarianism and assertiveness at home and abroad. Mr. Yang then unloaded a list of Chinese complaints about the United States and accused Washington of hypocrisy for criticizing Beijing on human rights and other issues.
“Each of these actions threatens the rules-based order that maintains global stability,” Blinken said of China’s actions in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as cyberattacks on states. United and economic coercion against the American allies. “This is why these are not just internal issues and why we feel compelled to raise these issues here today. Mr. Yang responded by demanding that the United States stop pushing its own version of democracy at a time when the United States itself has been troubled by domestic discontent. He also accused the United States of failing to address its own human rights issues and challenged what he called “condescension” on the part of Mr. Blinken, National Security Advisor Jake. Sullivan and other American officials.
“There is no way to strangle China,” he said.
U.S.-China relations have been torn for years, and the Biden administration has yet to indicate whether it is ready or willing to back down on the radical positions taken under Donald Trump.
Mr. Trump was proud to forge what he saw as a strong relationship with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. But the relationship fell apart after the coronavirus pandemic spread from Wuhan province across the world and sparked a health and economic disaster.
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