The Washington Post-Biden meets top Chinese diplomat as rivals seek to manage tensions
October 27, 2023 4 min 829 words
这篇报道反映了中美两国外交官之间的会谈，尤其是中国外交部长王毅与美国总统拜登的会晤。尽管会谈没有取得突破性进展，但这次会面对于两国关系的正向发展是一个积极标志。 中美关系已经历了一年的紧张与不信任，双方在会议中提到了一系列对美国政府的不满，包括中国在全球芬太尼贸易和南中国海争端中的角色。美国政府还呼吁中国在乌克兰问题和以色列-加沙冲突中行使影响力，以缓和国际紧张局势。 尽管会谈未能取得突破性的成果，但这次会面标志着两国关系的积极发展，需要谨慎处理以解决两国之间的矛盾。同时，两国外交官为下月在旧金山召开的亚太经济合作组织领导人会议奠定了基础，这将是习近平自2017年以来首次访问美国，也是拜登上台以来两位领导人之间为数不多的直接互动。 报告中提到，尽管中国支持俄罗斯在乌克兰的入侵，但中国没有全力支持普京，这是美国政府希望保持的政策。此外，中国可能对伊朗在以色列-加沙冲突中的决定产生影响，这可能导致美国军队介入地区战争，而拜登政府希望避免这种情况。 总之，这篇报道表明中美关系正经历复杂的时刻，双方都在努力管理紧张局势。虽然会谈没有取得显著进展，但它为未来的外交努力奠定了基础，希望通过密切的外交互动来解决两国之间的分歧。这也突显了外交与对话的重要性，以维护全球和平与稳定。
2023-10-27T14:57:24.503Z
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi capped two days in Washington on Friday with an hour-long visit with President Biden at the White House, part of an ongoing effort to thaw relations between the two superpowers after a year of anger and distrust from both sides.
In meetings, U.S. policymakers ticked down the list of frustrations the Biden administration has with Beijing, ranging from China’s role in the global fentanyl trade to its claims over the South China Sea. But they also appealed to the top Chinese diplomat to use his country’s influence over Russian behavior in Ukraine and now its potential sway over Iran in the Israel-Gaza conflict.
The two sides emerged without having made breakthroughs, U.S. officials said, and the glimpses of interactions that they made public appeared frosty. But Wang’s visit was itself a positive marker for a relationship that U.S. officials say they have to manage carefully to address irritants between the two nations. Wang’s trip was the highest-level visit to Washington since then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) sparked Chinese anger with a visit to Taiwan in August 2022 and since a Chinese spy balloon floated across the United States at the beginning of this year.
“The United States and China are in an intense competition, and we believe the best way to manage that competition is through equally intense diplomacy,” White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters Friday. “President Biden has stated multiple times that he hopes to see [Chinese] President Xi [Jinping] in the near future.”
Wang and Secretary of State Antony Blinken laid the ground for a possible visit by Xi to San Francisco next month, where leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group will convene for several days of talks. If Xi attends, as is expected, it would be the first visit by Xi to the United States since 2017, and one of only a handful of direct interactions between the two leaders since Biden came to office. The two have not spoken since they met on the sidelines of a gathering in Bali, Indonesia, in November.
While China has supported Russia following the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, Beijing has not thrown the full weight of its defense industry in favor of Russian President Vladimir Putin, a policy that U.S. officials hope to preserve. China also may have some influence over Iran’s decisions about whether to join fully in the Israel-Gaza conflict, a move that could pull U.S. military forces into a regional war that the Biden administration is eager to avoid.
China has extensive economic ties in the Middle East, and as Blinken crisscrossed the region earlier this month, he called Wang to encourage Beijing to help manage the conflict.
Wang’s visit was a reciprocal exchange following a June visit by Blinken to Beijing. U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic efforts, said that the Washington visit was choreographed nearly to the minute to reproduce what happened in China. That trip unlocked several visits by U.S. cabinet officials, a resumption of direct ties following a hiatus that diplomats said was a hindrance to basic risk management between the rivals.
The tensions were on display as recently as this week, when a Chinese fighter jet flew within 10 feet of a U.S. B-52 bomber flying in international airspace over the Pacific, U.S. military officials said Thursday. They said it risked causing a midair collision.
Over the two days of meetings in Washington, the sides did little to promote a sense of camaraderie, with the Americans in particular appearing careful to avoid any flicker of a smile that could be freeze-framed and turned into an attack ad by Republicans accusing the Biden administration of being soft on China during the upcoming presidential campaign.
On Thursday, as Blinken welcomed Wang to the State Department for a two-hour conversation to be followed by dinner, his quick remarks to the press were so short — 30 words in all, at a moment that diplomats typically use to outline their aims for a meeting — that he took his Chinese counterpart by surprise.
“So brief, huh?” Wang asked.
Friday morning, the sides convened again at the State Department, allowing reporters in briefly for photos — no talking — in which both the American and Chinese delegations appeared to have received memos to be staunch, resolute, and grim-faced.
Standing next to Blinken a day earlier, Wang said that “in China-U.S. relations, from time to time there will be some jarring voices. When it happens, China treats it calmly, because we are of the view what is right and what is wrong is not determined by who has the stronger arm or a louder voice.”