Chinese FM says ‘stabilizing relations’ with US ‘top priority’

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang held talks with the US ambassador on Monday, Beijing reported, during which he stated that the “Maximum priority” was to stabilize relations between the rival powers.

The conversations of qin with Nicholas Burns in Beijing are one of the highest-level meetings between the two countries since Washington shot down a Chinese spy balloon over the United States in early February.

The incident led US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to call off a trip to China.

“The top priority is to stabilize China-US relations, avoid a downward spiral and prevent accidents between China and the US“, Told him qin to Burnsaccording to Chinese state media.

US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said that Burns talked to Qin”on the areas in which our two countries can cooperate”, such as the fight against climate change or fentanyl trafficking.

“Keep lines of communication open with the PRC [República Popular China] has been a key tenet of our approach, as it relates to this very complicated bilateral relationship”, Patel declared to the press in Washington.

bad relationships

The Chinese foreign minister also told the US ambassador that Washington is responsible for the deterioration in relations between the two countries and should “reflect deeply” so that the ties can be recovered, an official reported.

The statements of qin gang They come after the suspension of high-level talks on a broad list of issues between the two countries, which disagree on tariffs, US attempts to deprive China of cutting-edge technologies, and Chinese claims on taiwan and much of the South China Sea.

According to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, qin told the ambassador Nicholas Burns that “a series of ill-advised words and deeds” by the United States since the meeting in November between the US president Joe Biden and the Chinese leader Xi Jinping “have undermined the positive, hard-won momentum in China-US relations.”

“The US side should reflect deeply, make some concessions, and pull China-US relations out of the current difficulties and put them back on the right track.”, expressed qin according to the text.

USA has to “correct your perception of China and return to normality”, expressed qinrepeating his earlier charge that the US is trying to suppress and contain China. Beijing usually describes the political and military support that USA it gives to Taiwan as a violation of its sovereignty.

In a tweet, Burns said he met qin and that bothThey discussed challenges in US-China relations and the need to stabilize relations and expand high-level communications.”.