Xi Jinping says the United States and China made progress during the meeting – Asia

Chinese President Xi Jinping believes that it would be “very good” if Beijing and Washington could make progress in stabilizing relations between the world’s two largest economies.

This desire was conveyed by Xi Jinping himself to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, during the visit of the head of US diplomacy to China. Xi Jinping even declared that “the two sides made progress” during this visit.

“I hope that this visit, Mr. Minister, will contribute more positively to the stability of relations between China and the United States,” said the Chinese president, according to a statement released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, quoted by Bloomberg.

Already in a video released by Chinese public radio, Xi Jinping announced that “the two sides have made progress and reached agreements on some specific issues.” “This is very good,” he stressed.

In addition to the Chinese Head of State and Anthony Blinken, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying was also present at this meeting, along with Chinese Foreign Minister Chen Gang. And on the American side, along with Anthony Blinken, the US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns sat at the table for the talks.

On Sunday, China’s chief of diplomacy, Chen Gang, and the United States, Anthony Blinken, had already met in Beijing for more than five hours, marking the start of the first visit by a US secretary of state to the country in five years. Blinken arrived in Beijing early Sunday morning.

Chen and Blinken traded barbs on Wednesday during a phone conversation that was the first high-level bilateral contact in months, according to Spain’s EFE news agency. The Chinese minister then appealed to the United States to stop actions that harm China’s sovereign security and development interests “in the name of competition.”

Blinken’s office had previously acknowledged that no major breakthroughs were expected in the talks, given the many areas of contention between Washington and Beijing.

Regarding the visit, the US State Department said the idea remains to start a diplomatic “thaw” and maintain dialogue in order to “responsibly manage Sino-US relations”.

Blinken’s visit was initially scheduled for February, after the meeting between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia in November.