Special Desk
IN the first high-level talks after Biden administration came to power, US and Chinese officials have exchanged sharp criticisms in Alaska.
China said the US was exhibiting a “Cold War mentality,” and US said Beijing’s actions in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan were concerning.
Top diplomats from both countries lashed out at each other in a rare public exchange that has not surprise but many on Friday.
The crackdown in Hong Kong, the ramped-up rhetoric against Taiwan and actions in the South China Sea are policies that the US finds objectionable, applying bipartisan pressure ever since the Obama administration.
Chinese officials accused US of provoking countries to attack China, while US said China had arrived intent on grandstanding. Relations between the two superpowers are at their most strained for past few years.
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The US has pledged to raise contentious issues such as Beijing’s treatment of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang. The ill-tempered talks in Anchorage involved Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan on the US side.
Blinken stated the US would discuss our deep concerns with actions by China, including in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, cyber attacks on the United States, economic coercion of our allies. Each of these actions threaten the rules-based order that maintains global stability, he said.
In reply Yang accused Washington of using its military might and financial supremacy to suppress other countries. “It abuses so-called notions of national security to obstruct normal trade exchanges, and incite some countries to attack China,” he added.
China is but looking for a reset after relations hit rock bottom under the Trump administration, it is said.