Table of Contents
Why in News?
- US and China ended their first high-level meeting on Friday after two days of talks in Alaska that produced an extraordinary public spat and no sign of improved
- First high-level U.S.-China meeting during Biden’s presidency.
- China -> Top diplomat Yang Jiechi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi
- US -> Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NSA Jake Sullivan
Backdrop
- S. held an online Quad summit, bringing together the leaders of Japan, Australia and India for the first time.
- Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin flew to East Asia for two- plus-two meetings with their counterparts in Japan and South Korea –
- – both vital allies in countering China’s rise in the region.
- On 17th March, the US escalated its sanctions on China over a crackdown on pro-democracy advocates in Hong Kong.
- China put a Canadian citizen on trial on spying charges and is set for another Canadian’s trial.
What US said?
- US raised concerns on actions by China, including in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, cyberattacks on US and economic coercion toward our
- Each of above threaten the rules-based order that maintains global That’s why they’re not merely internal matters.
- US relationship with China will be competitive where it should be, collaborative where it can be, adversarial where it must be.
China’s dialogue
- What China and the international community follow is UN-centered international system
- US has US-style democracy — and China has Chinese-style democracy.
- We do not believe in invading through the use of force, or to topple other regimes through various means, or to massacre the people of other countries.
- It is important for the US to change its own image and to stop advancing its own democracy in the rest of the world.
- What we need to do is to abandon the Cold War mentality and the zero-sum game approach.
- On some regional issues, US has exercised long-arm jurisdiction and suppression and overstretched the national security through the use of force or financial hegemony.
- Japan and ROK are China’s 2nd and 3rd largest trading partners. ASEAN is now China’s largest trading partner, overtaking EU and US.
- Xinjiang, Tibet and Taiwan are an inalienable part of China’s territory.
- On human rights, we hope that the US will do better on human rights.
- On cyberattacks, whether it’s the ability to launch cyberattacks or the technologies that could be deployed, the US is the champion in this You can’t blame this problem on somebody else.
- Whether judged by population scale or the trend of the world, the Western world does not represent the global public opinion.
What do China and the US disagree about?
- US accuses China of unfair practices, such as subsidising industries, stealing IP, keeping its currency low and putting up barriers to trade.
- For its part, China wants the big trade tariffs introduced by the Trump administration on Chinese goods eliminated. It also accuses the US of “suppressing” successful Chinese tech companies, such as Huawei.
- Other – HK, South China Sea, Xinjiang, Tibet, Taiwan
Areas of potential cooperation
- Combatting climate change
- Ending the war in Afghanistan
- Containing pandemics
- Dealing with North Korea’s nuclear weapons
- Iran’s nuclear programme
What does this mean for India?
- China & US both are large trading partners -> trade war will affect Indian economy
- India getting closer to Russia affects it’s relation with US
- CAATSA -> Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act
- Tight rope walk at multilateral level
How useful is the Cold war label?