Diplomacy With Mutual Respect

By Zhao Wei

When State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Bali， Indonesia， on July 9， the highly anticipated closed-door meeting went on for five hours， compared with the brief onehour encounter last time in Rome， Italy， on October 31， 2021. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the meeting as a “comprehensive， in-depth and candid communication at length.” The fact Wang and Blinken took so much time out of their schedules at the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on the Indonesian island was widely reported around the world.

The U.S. approach to this meeting appeared to be positive. Just before his meeting with Wang， Blinken said during a photo session that China and the United States had “a lot to talk about，” and he was “very much looking forward to a productive and constructive conversation.”

Wang said as China and the United States are two major countries， it is necessary to maintain regular exchanges. He also said the two sides need to work together to ensure the relationship continues to move forward along the right track.

During the 30 days leading up to the meeting， there were four other interactions between senior Chinese and U.S. officials， covering military， diplomatic and economic affairs. This frequency of high-level interaction is unprecedented in the time since the Joe Biden administration took office and is seen as a result of the new level of understanding reached between presidents Xi Jinping and Biden.

During the meeting， Wang said the best way for the two sides to steer China-U.S. relations out of difficulties is to base relations and cooperation on the understanding reached between the two presidents. Wang highlighted China’s continued commitment to basing its relations with the U.S. on the three principles put forward by President Xi， i.e. mutual respect， peaceful coexistence and cooperation for mutual benefit. He also called on U.S. officials to fulfill the five commitments previously made by President Biden.

Implementing the common understanding reached by the two presidents is a topic that has been raised many times by the Chinese side since the phone call between Xi and Biden on September 9， 2021.

During that phone call， Biden affirmed the United States does not seek a new cold war with China， it does not aim to change China’s system， the revitalization of its alliances is not targeted at China， it does not support “Taiwan independence，” and it has no intention of seeking a conflict with China. These are summarized as the “five commitments.”

“We’ve seen Washington still progressing with a Cold War mentality and related activities. We’ve seen the U.S. still meddling in China’s internal affairs， whether on Tibet， Xinjiang， Hong Kong or Taiwan. We’ve seen the U.S. still trying to build alliances with China’s neighbors with clear implications for China’s security. We’ve seen the U.S. flirting dangerously with the strategic ambiguity principle related to Taiwan， as well as selling military hardware to Taipei and reports of U.S. troops there. And we’ve seen the U.S. still making provocative maneuvers along China’s coast and through the Taiwan Straits and the South China Sea， as well as encouraging a more militaristic Japan and the Republic of Korea. Each of these actions runs contrary to the five commitments Biden has made，”Josef Gregory Mahoney， a professor of politics at East China Normal University， told Beijing Review.

“There are two agendas from the Chinese perspective for this meeting： One was to criticize the U.S. side for undermining bilateral relations and the other was to advance cooperation，” Wu Xinbo， Director of the Center for American Studies at Shanghai’s Fudan University， said in an interview with Yuyuan Tantian， a social media account.

“We’ll be able to discuss having guardrails on the relationship so that our competition does not spill over into miscalculation or confrontation，” said Daniel Kritenbrink， U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs， on July 5.

It was not the first time officials from the U.S. Department of State mentioned guardrails in relation to China. Prior to U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman’s visiting Tianjin on July 26， 2021， the U.S. said it hoped Sherman’s visit would help establish guardrails.

The Chinese side has taken notice of the U.S. call for guardrails. In the meeting， Wang stressed that the three Sino-U.S. joint communiqués are the most reliable guardrails for the two countries. In China’s view， the two sides earnestly fulfilling the commitments made in the three joint communiqués and promptly working to remove roadblocks will ensure bilateral relations will not veer off track or spin out of control. Otherwise， no number of guardrails will work.

The three joint communiqués signed by China and the U.S. in 1972， 1979 and 1982 serve as the foundation for China-U.S. relations. One of the major principles of these communiqués is that Taiwan is part of China.

In the U.S.， one veteran diplomat proclaimed the important role of the three joint communiqués in China-U.S. relations， particularly the Shanghai Communiqué. Chas W. Freeman Jr.， was the principal American interpreter during President Richard Nixon’s 1972 visit to Beijing and was assistant secretary of defense in the early 1990s. In an online conversation hosted by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University on June 19， Freeman said even though the U.S. and China are going to compete in many spheres， the two countries should begin with cooperation， not confrontation.

“That is the approach that was used in the Shanghai Communiqué， on which this relationship was built， and the reversal of that is destroying the relationship，” Freeman stressed in the video.

“Taiwan has been the central issue in bilateral relations， and the U.S. Government expressly committed itself to the one-China principle in each of the three communiqués. Thus the three documents together constitute the guardrails of China-U.S. relations. In the past several years， however， some U.S. government officials and members of Congress publicly questioned the three communiqués， and Washington has adopted a series of policies since 2018 that clearly violated the letter and spirit of the three communiqués. As a result， the bilateral relationship has undergone a sharp downturn. For the sake of peace and prosperity between the two countries and in East Asia， Washington should follow the three communiqués in its dealings with Taiwan，” Xie Tao， Dean of the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University， said to Beijing Review.

During the meeting in Bali， China provided four lists to the U.S. side.

“They include the updated list of U.S. wrongdoings that must stop and the updated list of key individual cases that the U.S. must resolve， which were first presented to the U.S. side at last year’s meeting in Tianjin，” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin while taking questions at a regular press conference on July 11. “The other two are also a list of Acts in the 117th Congress that are of high concern to China and a list of cooperation proposals in eight areas including climate change， public health and people-topeople exchange.”

Differentiated by function， the first three of the four lists are China demanding the U.S. to eliminate the negative elements and clear the current obstacles in the China-U.S. relationship， while the fourth aims to promote cooperation in order to increase the positive elements of bilateral relationship.

“These can be read as a declaration of grievances. In fact， we do not expect the Biden administration to address most of them since he’s been the active agent of several. And， of course， he has no control over Congress， except possibly vetoing any legislation that might be passed. Beijing knows this， of course， but still wants to make clear what it finds unsettling and unproductive， and the need to address these matters to ensure better relations，” commented Mahoney.

“We hope the U.S. will take China’s lists seriously， and take real action to fulfill the commitments made by President Biden and the U.S. Government，” said Wang Wenbin during the press conference. BR