The US and China talk past each other on most issues, but at least they’re still talking

BEIJING -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up his just-concluded latest sojourn to China with a halt astatine a Beijing grounds store wherever helium bought albums by Taylor Swift and Chinese rocker Dou Wei successful a symbolic motion to cross-cultural exchanges and knowing helium had been promoting for 3 days.

Music, helium said astatine the Li-Pi store connected his mode to the airdrome precocious Friday, “is the champion connector, careless of geography.”

Yet Swift’s “Midnights” and Dou Wei’s “Black Dream” could conscionable arsenic easy correspond the seemingly intractable divisions successful the profoundly troubled narration betwixt the world’s 2 largest economies that some sides publically and privately blasted connected the other.

Blinken and his Chinese interlocutors, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, each referred to these rifts adjacent arsenic they extolled the virtues of keeping connection channels unfastened to negociate these differences and debar misunderstandings and miscalculations.

Blinken went retired of his mode to champion the value of U.S.-China exchanges astatine each levels. In Shanghai, helium ate astatine a celebrated crockery dumpling restaurant, attended a Chinese hoops playoff crippled and visited with American and Chinese students astatine the New York University branch. In his authoritative meetings with Chinese leaders successful Beijing, helium spoke repeatedly of improvements successful ties implicit the past year.

But helium besides stressed that the U.S. has superior and increasing concerns with China’s policies and practices connected the local, determination and planetary stages. And, helium said, the U.S. would not backmost down. “America volition ever support our halfway interests and values,” helium said.

On respective occasions, helium slammed Chinese overproduction of electrical vehicles that threatened to person detrimental effects connected U.S. and European automakers and complained that China was not doing capable to halt the accumulation and export of synthetic opioid precursors.

At 1 constituent helium warned bluntly that if China does not extremity enactment for Russia ’s defence concern sector, thing the Biden medication says has allowed Russia to measurement up its attacks connected Ukraine and endanger European security, the U.S. would enactment to halt it. “I made wide that if China does not code this problem, we will,” Blinken told reporters aft gathering with Xi.

Chinese officials were likewise direct, saying that portion relations person mostly improved since a debased constituent past twelvemonth implicit the shootdown of a Chinese surveillance balloon, they remained fraught.

“The 2 countries should assistance each different win alternatively than wounded each other, question communal crushed and reserve differences alternatively than prosecute successful vicious competition, and grant words with actions alternatively than accidental 1 happening but bash the opposite,” Xi told Blinken successful a not-so-veiled accusation of U.S. hypocrisy.

Wang, the overseas minister, said China is fed up with what it considers to beryllium U.S. meddling successful quality rights, Taiwan and the South China Sea and efforts to restrict its commercialized and relations with different countries. “Negative factors successful the narration are inactive expanding and gathering and the narration is facing each kinds of disruptions,” helium said. He urged the U.S. “not to measurement connected China’s reddish lines connected China’s sovereignty, security, and improvement interests.”

Or, arsenic Yang Tao, the manager wide of North American and Oceania affairs astatine the Foreign Ministry, enactment it, according to the authoritative Xinhua News Agency: “If the United States ever regards China arsenic its main rival, China-US relations volition continuously look troubles and galore problems.”

Still, Blinken pressed engagement connected each levels. He announced a caller statement to clasp talks with China connected the threats posed by artificial intelligence but lamented a dearth of American students studying successful China – less than 900 now, compared to much than 290,000 Chinese successful the U.S. He said some sides wanted to summation that number.

“We person an involvement successful this, due to the fact that if our aboriginal leaders – whether it’s successful government, whether it’s successful business, civilian society, climate, tech, and different fields – if they’re going to beryllium capable to collaborate, if they privation to beryllium capable to lick large problems, if they’re going to beryllium capable to enactment done our differences, they’ll request to cognize and recognize each other’s language, culture, history,” helium said. But helium added a caveat the Chinese were apt to spot arsenic a barb.

“What I told my PRC counterparts connected this sojourn is if they privation to pull much Americans present to China, peculiarly students, the champion mode to bash that is to make the conditions that let learning to flourish anyplace – a escaped and unfastened treatment of ideas, entree to a wide scope of information, easiness of travel, assurance successful the safety, security, and privateness of the participants,” Blinken said.

Those are issues that neither Taylor Swift nor Dou Wei tin overcome.