Qin implicitly referred to the balloon incident, urging the Biden administration to « handle unforeseen eventualities calmly, professionally, and rationally. »
Blinken stressed the need for the two countries to reduce the potential for « misperception and miscalculation » and the Biden administration’s desire to « explore cooperation on shared transnational issues » where possible, » according to a State Department reading of the meeting. However, neither side has signaled whether Blinken will have a meeting with Chinese supreme leader Xi Jinping on Monday.
Xi met last week with visiting Microsoft founder Bill Gates, suggesting that failure to organize a Xi-Blinken meeting will be a deliberate snub by Chinese authorities.
The ambiguity of Blinken’s reading indicates little substantive progress on his agenda items which include concerns about rising tensions over TaiwanUS citizens wrongfully imprisoned in China e Beijing’s alignment with Russia’s war against Ukraine. Qin made no mention of Americans arbitrarily detained in China or the war in Ukraine, but reiterated his « tough position » on Taiwan and urged the United States « to implement its commitment not to support the ‘independence of Taiwan » ».
