Epoch Times - U.S., Chinese Diplomats Clash Publicly in First Meeting Under Biden | Epoch News | China Insider
Aired: 2021-03-23
Duration: 06:08


=== Rocky Start in Anchorage (05:47) ===

[00:00:00]  The first US-China meeting under the Biden administration got off to a rocky start on March 18, when the diplomats of both countries traded sharp criticism against each other's policies in front of reporters.
[00:00:13]  The two-day meeting in Anchorage, Alaska was the first high-level in-person talks We'll also discuss our deep concerns with actions by China,
[00:00:41]  including in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Cyber attacks on the United States, economic coercion toward our allies.
[00:00:51]  Each of these actions threaten the rules-based order that maintains global stability.
[00:00:57]  That's why they're not merely internal matters and why we feel an obligation to raise these issues here today.
[00:01:04]  Sullivan said, A confident country is able to look hard at its own shortcomings and constantly seek to improve.
[00:01:13]  Soon after, Yang, via an interpreter, said, It was my bad.
[00:01:17]  When I entered this room, I should have reminded the US side of paying attention to its tone in our respective opening remarks, but I didn't.
[00:01:26]  He accused the US side of speaking in a condescending way.
[00:01:30]  Yang then lashed out at the democracy of the United States, which he referred to as a struggling democracy.
[00:01:37]  He also criticized the poor treatment of minorities in the United States and the US foreign and trade policies.
[00:01:45]  We believe that it is important for the United States to change its own image and to stop advancing its own democracy in the rest of the world.
[00:01:53]  Many people within the United States actually have little confidence in the democracy of the United States, he said.
[00:02:00]  China will not accept unwarranted accusations from the U.S. side.
[00:02:05]  Wang also blasted the United States slapping sanctions on Chinese officials over Beijing's rollback of democracy in Hong Kong a day before the talks.
[00:02:15]  I don't think this is the way you should normally treat a guest.
[00:02:18]  Blinken appeared to be annoyed by the tenor and length of the comments, which went on for more than 15 minutes.
[00:02:25]  He said his impressions from speaking with world leaders and on his just-concluded trip to Japan and South Korea were entirely different from the Chinese position.
[00:02:36]  I'm hearing deep satisfaction that the United States is back, that we're reengaged.
[00:02:42]  I'm also hearing deep concern about some of the actions your government is taking.
[00:02:48]  Following the heated exchanges, a senior administration official issued a statement criticizing the Chinese side for violating the meeting's protocol that each diplomat would limit his opening statement to about two minutes.
[00:03:00]  Yang ended up speaking for more than 15 minutes.
[00:03:03]  The Chinese delegation seems to have arrived intent on grandstanding.
[00:03:08]  Focused on public theatrics and dramatics over substance, the official said.
[00:03:13]  Exaggerated diplomatic presentations often are aimed at a domestic audience.
[00:03:18]  Gordon Chang, author of The Coming Collapse of China, expressed his view on Twitter about the drama at the high-level meeting.
[00:03:25]  In the past, China's diplomats were cunning, pretending to be friendly and responsible.
[00:03:31]  Now, however, they are arrogant beyond belief.
[00:03:34]  Yang Jiechi in Alaska just dropped the mask to show Beijing's true ugly face, Cheng wrote.
[00:03:40]  In an email exchange with The Epoch Times, Cheng wrote, The regime is off the charts arrogant at the moment.
[00:03:47]  Chinese leader Xi Jinping has been pushing the propaganda narrative that the East is rising and the West is declining.
[00:03:54]  James J. Carafano, vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at Washington-based think tank Heritage Foundation, told the Epoch Times that the CCP's aggressive display is typical of Beijing's wolf-warrior diplomacy, which has gained steam over the past year.
[00:04:11]  Carafano pointed out that the CCP has recently drawn a lot of global blowback over various actions including its cover-up of the pandemic, crackdown in Hong Kong, as well as threats posed by Chinese technology such as Huawei.
[00:04:26]  Their response to that blowback is to try to bluster their way through it, Carafano said.
[00:04:31]  If the US administration expected them to walk in the door and play nice, I think that was pretty naive.
[00:04:38]  Carafano said the Chinese diplomats' remarks should help the Biden administration recognize that there is no room for cooperation with the CCP. The reality is on all the key issues.
[00:04:50]  China and the US are at very different places.
[00:04:53]  And the healthiest, most constructive thing is to recognize that, he said.
[00:04:58]  Similarly, Chang also criticized the Biden administration's expressed willingness to cooperate with China where possible, such as on climate change and nuclear non-proliferation.
[00:05:10]  Unfortunately, Biden has yet to realize that communists to China and the democratic United States cannot coexist over the long term, Chang said.
[00:05:19]  Republican Senator Rick Scott from Florida told the Epoch Times that he was not surprised that the meeting didn't go well.
[00:05:26]  Communist China is our enemy, plain and simple, and cannot be trusted.
[00:05:30]  The Biden administration cannot appease General Secretary Xi.

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