Xi Jinping to Blinken: “USA and China are Partners, not Rivals”

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was received by Chinese President Xi Jinping on the last day of his visit to China, saying the two great powers should be “partners, not rivals, while there is still room for further efforts.”

Xi also said that China hopes the United States will have a “positive outlook” on the development of Asia’s largest power and the world’s second-largest economy. “We hope that the United States can also take a positive view of China’s development. When this fundamental problem is solved, the relationship can really improve, become stable, and move forward,” the Chinese leader emphasized.

In addition to the trade and technology war that has tainted relations between Beijing and Washington, the USA criticizes the historic friendship between Russia and China, which has been reluctant to condemn the military operation in Ukraine. After meeting with Xi Jinping, Blinken said at a press conference that from the American perspective, Russia “would have had more problems” in the conflict with Ukraine if it did not have China’s support. “In my meetings here in Beijing,” Blinken said, “I have raised the issue of dual-use components and goods from China to Moscow.”

Blinken’s meeting with Xi Jinping followed a more than five-and-a-half-hour conversation with Chinese diplomatic chief Wang Yi, during which the secretary of state also expressed hope for “improved relations between the two countries.” Wang, for his part, responded that China-US relations are “beginning to stabilize,” noting, however, that he sees “at the same time that the negative factors in bilateral relations continue to intensify.”