PThe negotiations between the representatives of the two countries highlighted the existing differences, Beijing said. In Washington, they replied that they did not pursue the goal of solving specific issues, but tried to create conditions for the normalization of relations
The talks held in China between representatives of the US and Chinese foreign ministries only highlighted the deep differences between the countries and did not lead to a consensus. This is reported by Bloomberg.
Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Xie Feng told US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman during her visit to China that relations “have reached an impasse and are facing serious difficulties”.
During the meeting, Xie presented Sherman with two lists of requirements that could improve the dialogue between Beijing and Washington. The first one concerned “the actions of the United States that violate international law, which must be stopped immediately”. In the second, the People’s Republic of China demanded to lift sanctions against Chinese officials and state structures, as well as to stop US attempts to achieve the extradition of Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou from Canada. Washington believes that the IT giant, through the Hong Kong company Skycom, supplied products and technologies to Iran in violation of US sanctions.
Later, senior officials from the administration of President Joe Biden told the agency that Sherman’s visit was focused on working out the conditions for normalizing relations between the two countries and did not aim to agree on specific issues. At the same time, Bloomberg sources described the negotiations as frank and professional, although at times the conversation became “difficult”.
The State Department’s statement on the visit of its representative to China said that the United States accepts the tough competition between the two countries, intends to further strengthen its own competitiveness, but “does not seek a conflict with the PRC”.
In response, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that it considers the American rhetoric about rivalry as a veiled attempt to put pressure on the PRC. At the same time, Zhu Feng, a professor of international relations from Nanjing University, noted that Beijing’s statements about difficult negotiations and a stalemate in relations with the United States are primarily aimed at the domestic audience, which the Chinese authorities want to convince of firmness in the face of pressure from Washington.
Relations between China and the United States began to deteriorate rapidly under President Donald Trump. Washington, among other things, accused Chinese IT companies of collecting data from American users through their applications in the interests of the special services. Other US claims related to the imbalance in trade between the two countries.
Later, the United States accused Beijing of violating human rights because of the situation in Hong Kong; the Chinese authorities extended the law on the protection of national security to the autonomy, after which riots began in Hong Kong.
Washington has imposed sanctions against Huawei and a number of other technology companies from China, as well as against officials and government structures of the People’s Republic of China, including the authorities of Xinjiang, the autonomous region of the People’s Republic of China, where Uighur Muslims live. In the United States, they say that the Chinese authorities are carrying out genocide against them and driving them into labor camps. Beijing denies this.
In addition, the US authorities stated that the COVID-19 pandemic could be the result of a coronavirus leak from a virology laboratory in Wuhan. After the February trip to Wuhan, the WHO ruled out this version of the origin of the virus, but later changed their opinion.
CNN reported in July that a number of senior Biden administration officials consider the version of the laboratory leak of the coronavirus as plausible as the hypothesis of natural origin.
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