Xi meets Blinken, says US, China must be 'partners, not rivals’; Wang Yi warns of ‘downward spiral’

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday. During the meeting Xi told Blinken that the world’s two biggest economies should “be partners, not rivals.”

“The two countries should be partners, not rivals,” Xi told Blinken, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

During their meeting in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, Xi told Blinken that the two countries had “made some positive progress” since he met with US President Joe Biden last year, but “there are still a number of issues that need to be resolved, and there is still room for further efforts.”

The Chinese leader also proposed three major principles: mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation for improving ties with the US.

“The earth is big enough to hold the common development and… prosperity of China and the United States,” he further said.

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“China would be pleased to see a confident and open, prosperous and developing US,” Xi said, adding that he hopes the US can also take a “positive view of China’s development."  

“When this fundamental problem is solved… relations can truly stabilise, get better, and move forward,” Xi told Blinken, who is in China for the second time in less than a year.

Xi-Blinken meeting comes at a time when the China and the US are toiling to hold together a fractious relationship despite disputes over the economy, national security and geopolitical frictions in the West Asia and Ukraine.

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Blinken on three-day China visit

On the second day of this three-day visit, Blinken met more Chinese politicians in the capital Beijing, where the US diplomat said he would directly raise crucial areas of difference including Russia, Taiwan and trade.

Earlier on Friday, Blinken met China’s foreign minister Wang Yi.

China warns Blinken

During his meeting, Wang Yi warned Blinken that US pressure could trigger a “downward spiral” after the visiting diplomat raised concerns on issues including support for Russia.

Both the leaders met at the Diaoyutai state guesthouse. The meeting lasted for more than  five and a half hours, in which Wang also warned that the question of self-ruled Taiwan was the “first red line” that must not be crossed in China-US relations.

‘Negative factors’ in US-China relationship

Wang Yi also told Blinken that relations between the US and China were “beginning to stabilise”, especially after Biden and Xi met in November near San Francisco, “but at the same time, the negative factors in the relationship are still increasing and building.”

“China’s legitimate right to development is being unreasonably repressed and China’s core interests are constantly challenged,” Wang said, reflecting concerns about US export controls on advanced technology and military support for Taiwan.

Meanwhile, Blinken described his talks with Wang Yi “extensive and constructive”.

According to the State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, Blinken in his meeting with Wang Yi raised concern about China’s support for Russia, which has rapidly rebuilt its military base two years into its invasion of Ukraine.

In the start of his meeting with Wang, Blinken said China and the US should manage the relationship “responsibly”. He went on to says that he hopes China and the US “make some progress on the issues our presidents agreed” on at the California summit.

The two countries should be as “clear as possible about the areas where we have differences – at the very least to avoid misunderstandings, to avoid miscalculations”, Blinken said.

“That really is a shared responsibility that we have not only for our own people, but for people around the world, given the impact that our relationship has,” he added.

With inputs from agencies