Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said Monday that stabilizing Sino-US relations is a necessity after what he described as a series of “wrong words and deeds” led to a deterioration in relations.
In particular, during a meeting in Beijing with US Ambassador Nicholas Burns, Chen stressed that the United States should correct its handling of the Taiwan issue and refrain from stripping the “one China” principle of its content.
Relations between the world’s two largest economies hit a nadir last year when then-Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi paid an official visit to democratically-ruled Taiwan, angering China, which considers the island part of its territory.
In response to the visit, Beijing cut off official channels of communication with the United States, including communication between the two militaries.
Tensions between the two superpowers eased in November when US leaders Joe Biden and China’s President Xi Jinping met at the G20 summit in Indonesia and pledged more dialogue.
“The series of wrong words and actions by the United States since then has undermined the hard-won positive momentum of Sino-US relations,” China’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
“The agenda of dialogue and cooperation agreed upon by the two sides has been disrupted, and relations between the two countries are facing stalemate once again,” the statement added.
Tensions between the two countries escalated in February when a Chinese balloon appeared at a high altitude in US airspace, and in response, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken canceled a planned visit to Beijing.
Blinken appeared to indicate last week that a visit might take place, telling the Washington Post that it was important to restore regular lines of communication at all levels.
US climate envoy John Kerry said last week that China had invited him to visit “in the near term” for talks on averting a global climate crisis, raising hopes of getting one of the world’s most important relations between countries back on track.
“China-US relations are very important not only to the two countries but also to the world,” Chen said.
“The top priority is to stabilize China-US relations, avoid a downward spiral and prevent any incidents between China and the US,” he added.
Taiwan remains the most thorny issue in Sino-US relations.
Last month, China conducted military exercises around Taiwan after its president, Tsai Ing-wen, met US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles.
Since 1979, the relationship between Washington and Taipei has been governed by the Taiwan Relations Act, a law that provides the legal basis for providing Taiwan with means to defend itself but does not allow the United States to help Taiwan if it is attacked.
In the 2023 budget, the US Congress authorized up to $1 billion in military aid to Taiwan using an authorization mechanism that accelerated security assistance and helped deliver weapons to Ukraine.
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