Hong Kong – China The US welcomed “progress” on Monday and promised to stabilize the spiraling relationship, but no significant progress was made following the Secretary of State’s remarks. Anthony Brinken met with the president Xi Jinping.

A 35-minute meeting at the Great Hall of the People concluded the second and final day of the conference. High-stakes visit by top American diplomats aimed at de-escalating tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

“We have no illusions about the difficulties of managing this relationship. There are many issues with which we disagree deeply or strongly,” Blinken said at a press conference after his meeting with President Xi.

However, he added, “It is the responsibility of both countries to find a way forward, and doing so is in the interest of both countries and the world.”

Blinken said he expected more visits by US officials to China in the coming weeks and said the US would welcome visits by Chinese officials.

In remarks before the meeting, Xi said he hoped Mr Blinken’s visit would contribute to stabilizing relations between the United States and China. “The two sides have also made progress and reached agreement on some specific issues,” he said, without elaborating.

But there has been no apparent progress in restoring some military-to-military communication channels that China cut off in protest against the former Speaker of the House of Representatives. Visit to Taiwan by Nancy Pelosi Last August. Blinken said such communication was “absolutely essential”, especially in light of recent military conflicts between the United States and China. Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea.

“China has not agreed to go ahead with this,” Mr. Blinken said. “I think that’s an issue that we have to keep working on.”

Brinken’s visit to China is the first by a US Secretary of State since 2018, and he is also the highest-ranking US official to visit China since 2018. President Joe Biden was appointed. A meeting with Mr. Xi was seen as the key to a successful visit to North Korea and had been expected, but was not confirmed by either side until just before the scheduled start.

Relations between the two countries have deteriorated in recent months over trade, Taiwan, human rightsChinese military aggression. South China Sea and russian ukrainian war.

In a meeting with Blinken, Xi said China was not willing to challenge or exclude the United States, but the United States must also respect China’s rights and interests, according to a statement by China’s foreign ministry. argued that it must

Mr. Blinken denied that the United States was trying to contain China economically, as Mr. Xi has accused, and said the United States wanted economic growth around the world.

“But at the same time, we can, will and must take the necessary steps to protect our national security,” he said. Restrict access to Chinese semiconductor technologyamong other actions, he described as “focused.”

Blinken had previously met with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi and China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang, both of whom were present at the meeting with Xi.

State Department officials said it was unlikely the two countries would reach any sort of breakthrough during Mr. Blinken’s trip, originally scheduled for February. Postponed after discovery of suspected Chinese spy balloon over U.S. territory.

While emphasizing the importance of resuming high-level communication, China had expressed less enthusiasm ahead of Mr Blinken’s visit this week than before the previous visit was postponed.

But it could lay the groundwork for talks between Biden and Xi later this year. The last time we met was in Indonesia last November. Alongside the G20 summit.

Mr Brinken met with China’s Foreign Minister Qin after arriving on Sunday, describing both sides as “candid” and “constructive”. State Department officials said the talks lasted almost six hours, followed by a two-hour working dinner.

The two countries announced that Qin, the former Chinese ambassador to the United States, had accepted Brinken’s invitation to visit the United States at a mutually appropriate time.

Brinken then had a three-hour meeting with China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, on Monday, which appeared to be somewhat rocky.

Wang blamed the U.S.’s “misunderstanding” on China for the deterioration of bilateral relations, and said the U.S. was forced to choose “between dialogue and confrontation, cooperation and conflict.”

He emphasized China’s position on Taiwan, an autonomous democracy that Beijing claims is its territory and whose status has become one of the biggest flashpoints in US-China relations.

China accused the United States, Taiwan’s most important international supporter, of promoting Taiwan’s independence through official exchanges between the island’s president and senior U.S. officials, including Pelosi and his successors. Kevin McCarthy.

Blinken said he had heightened concerns from the United States and others over recent “provocative” military actions by China in the Taiwan Strait, while reiterating to Chinese officials that Washington’s policy toward Taiwan had not changed.

“We do not support Taiwan independence,” he said. “We remain opposed to any unilateral change of the status quo by either side.”

Blinken said the United States is ready to cooperate with China on areas of mutual interest, such as climate change, public health, food security and combating drugs. He raised the issue of the wrongful detention of US citizens and said he sought “greater cooperation” from China in curbing exports of fentanyl precursors that are fueling the US opioid crisis.

Both sides also agreed to encourage academic exchange Efforts will be made to increase the number of passenger flights between the two countries. Less than 6% level before the pandemic.

Wang Huiyao, director of the China and Globalization Center, a Beijing think tank, said Mr Blinken’s visit could be a “good start” opening the door for visits by other senior U.S. officials such as Commerce Secretary Gina Raimond and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. said there is. and John Kerry, the President’s Special Envoy for Climate Change.

“There are many complex issues that cannot all be resolved in one visit,” Wang, a former adviser to China’s top executive body, the State Council, told NBC News. “But it’s certainly a step in the right direction.”

Still, U.S.-China relations are “clearly at a dead end” as China seeks to shift the balance of power in the Asia-Pacific region, said Drew Thompson, a visiting senior fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at National University. . University of Singapore.

Former Pentagon official Thompson said, “The purpose of the United States, especially Secretary Brinken’s visit, is to manage competition and avoid conflict.” “But China has another goal: to use its authority and power to become the dominant political and economic power in the region, at the expense of U.S. interests. become.”