Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang met Monday with the U.S. ambassador in Beijing, Nicholas Burns, in one of the highest-level meetings between U.S. and Chinese officials since a suspected Chinese spy balloon sent relations to new lows in February.
“The top priority is to stabilize Sino-U.S. relations, avoid a downward spiral and prevent any accidents between China and the United States,” he said.
Burns posted on Twitter that the two “discussed challenges in the U.S.-China relationship and the necessity of stabilizing ties and expanding high-level communication.”
I met State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang today. We discussed challenges in the U.S.-China relationship and the necessity of stabilizing ties and expanding high-level communication. pic.twitter.com/2AYxkXiVMI
— Ambassador Nicholas Burns (@USAmbChina) May 8, 2023
The meeting may pave the way for more senior-level exchanges after high-level contacts between Beijing and Washington were frozen following the discovery of a suspected surveillance balloon floating over the United States in February.
The balloon, which Beijing claimed was for scientific purposes, caused Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a trip to Beijing that was seen as a key step in arresting a worsening rivalry between the two countries. Beijing and Washington have been at odds over Taiwan, U.S. curbs on Chinese technology and Beijing’s partnership with Moscow throughout the war in Ukraine.
At the meeting on Monday, Qin blamed “a series of erroneous words and deeds” by the United States for undermining progress made by Chinese leader Xi Jinping and President Biden when they met in Bali in November.
“The agenda of dialogue and cooperation agreed by the two sides was disrupted, and the relationship between the two countries once again hit an icy patch,” he said.
Before the meeting between Xi and Biden last year, ties were strained over a visit to Taiwan by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Beijing, which says Taiwan is part of its territory and protests any visits by foreign dignitaries that support Taipei’s claims of sovereignty, launched military exercises surrounding its main island.
At a regular news briefing in Beijing on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Washington could not continue to “suppress and contain” China. The United States must “correctly handle the Taiwan question,” he said.
Before the meeting between Qin and Burns, U.S. and Chinese trade officials met in Beijing in April, and Blinken met with China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Berlin in February.
Pei-Lin Wu and Vic Chiang contributed to this report.
