Thu, Mar 18, 2021 page3

• US to raise Strait concerns at meeting

  ALASKA MEETING: Washington intends to make it clear to Beijing its ‘deep concerns’ about its increasingly aggressive activities across the Taiwan Strait, a US official said

  • Staff writer, with CNA, WASHINGTON
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  The US administration is to make clear its “deep concerns” about China’s increasingly aggressive activities across the Taiwan Strait during a meeting today between top US and Chinese officials, a senior US official said in Washington on Tuesday.

  US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan are to meet with Chinese Central Foreign Affairs Commission Director Yang Jiechi (楊潔篪) and Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) in Alaska.

  It is to be the first in-person meeting between top US and China officials under US President Joe Biden’s administration.

  

  US Secretary of State Antony Blinken sits for a meeting with South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Chung Eui-yong, not pictured, in Seoul yesterday.

  Photo: EPA-EFE

  In a background briefing on Tuesday, a senior US official said that the meeting in Alaska is intended as an initial discussion to understand the interests, intentions and priorities of both sides.

  “We think it’s really important that our Chinese interlocutors hear from Secretary Blinken and from National Security Adviser Sullivan directly about our priorities and our intentions,” as sometimes Beijing thinks that the public message from the US might differ from its private message, the official said.

  It is therefore important that the US dispel this notion early on, which would include “making very clear our deep concerns about a range of issues, whether it’s Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Chinese economic coercion of our allies and partners, or China’s increasingly aggressive activities across the Taiwan Strait,” the official said.

  The meeting is also aimed at displaying that the current administration is unified and coordinated when it comes to China policy, the official said.

  In the past, Beijing has attempted to play favorites within various administrations, the official said, in particular by “playing the secretary of state and national security adviser off each other.”

  With both Blinken and Sullivan attending the meeting, it would demonstrate that “the games that China has played in the past to divide us or attempt to divide us are simply not going to work here,” the official said.

  In general, the meeting in Alaska would be on a broader strategic level. It is not a resumption of any particular dialogue mechanism, nor would there be a joint statement issued afterward, the official said.

  Several experts on US-China policy have said that the meeting is an opportunity for both sides to talk directly, although it is unlikely to yield any breakthroughs.

  The meeting would not “dramatically alter the direction” of US-China relations and would be “more of an exercise in setting the mood music for the relationship” rather than discussing specific concerns in detail, said Ryan Hass, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institution.

  US Center for Strategic and International Studies senior adviser Bonnie Glaser said that the meeting is an opportunity for officials to talk behind closed doors instead of speaking to each other through “megaphones,” such as public speeches and statements.

  “Expectations should remain low,” she added.

  Former American Institute (AIT) in Taiwan director Stephen Young said that he expects the Biden administration to “lay down a marker with China on its aggressive behavior” in the Indo-Pacific region, including the South China Sea, Taiwan, Japan and the Korean Peninsula.

  Douglas Paal, another former AIT director, said that he does not expect “constructive outcomes” on major US-China issues to emerge from the meeting, although there is a possibility that the two sides could come to some agreement on more “peripheral issues.”

  These include Myanmar, North Korea, climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, Paal said.
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