China blamed the US for causing “serious disturbances” in their relationship yesterday, but also called for the two Pacific powers to work together to get ties back on track.
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi (楊潔箎) reiterated China’s criticism of US arms sales to Taiwan and US President Barack Obama’s meeting last month with the Dalai Lama, but appeared to leave the door open for the two sides to mend fences.
“The US should properly handle the relevant sensitive issues and work with the Chinese side to return the China-US relationship to a track of stable development,” Yang told reporters.
Yang stressed that a harmonious relationship was vital to both sides and to the world.
“We hope the US will work with us in a joint effort toward this end,” he said.
He did not indicate if a recent visit by two high-level US officials, Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and Senior White House Asia adviser Jeffrey Bader, had helped put relations back on track. He said the two sides held “in-depth and candid discussions,”but did not give details
Yang was speaking in his annual press briefing held on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress session.
His comments come at a new low point for Sino-US relations. The US announced in January it would go ahead with a US$6.4 billion arms sale to Taiwan despite warnings by China, which had also urged Obama not to meet the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader at the White House.
The two sides also are at odds over Google’s announcement that it may pull out of China altogether over Web censorship and cyberattacks, plus a number of trade issues.
Yang repeated China’s assertion that the troubles were the US’ fault and called for “credible steps” by Washington to mend ties. However, he gave no specifics and unveiled no new retaliatory steps.
China had said earlier it was cutting off military contacts over the Taiwan arms issue.
The Sino-US enmity has emerged just as the US and other world powers seek Chinese support for pressure on Iran over its nuclear program. Yang repeated Beijing’s position that a resolution of the Iran nuclear issue must be achieved through talks, not sanctions.
“Frankly speaking, present efforts to settle the Iranian nuclear issue face some difficulties, but we don’t think diplomatic efforts have been exhausted,” he said. “As everyone knows, pressure and sanctions cannot fundamentally solve this issue.”
The US and others have stepped up calls for tougher action.
Beijing has a long history of opposing or watering down sanctions against Iran, a key supplier of energy for the Chinese economy.
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