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Amid the soaring tensions between the United States and China, it seems the Biden administration is now lamenting the current situation as it asserted “America is ready to talk with Beijing”, irrespective of what has had happened between the two powerful nations since August last year.
Speaking at an event at the Stimson Centre, US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns, on Tuesday, expressed hope that President Xi-Jinping-led Chinese government would also have similar connotations.
“Our view is we need better channels between the two governments and deeper channels, and we are ready to talk,” CNN quoted Burns as saying during an event virtually. “We’ve never been shy of talking, and we hope the Chinese will meet us halfway on this,” he added.
US-China tension
Notably, both China and the US have been at loggerheads ever since the then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan– an island nation which Beijing claims as its own.
Her visit came despite repeated warnings from Xi Jinping and his top officials.
Although it was expected that the visit of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken would cool down the tension between the two largest economies but a last-moment goof-up by alleged Chinese spy balloons had ruined all the speculations. This prompted the US to cancel the much-awaited trip of Blinken. At that time, the Biden administration had said it would send its top official but did not mention the timings.
Burns downplays Blinken’s possible China visit
Meanwhile, when asked about any possible trip of Blinken to China, Burn downplayed the question and said he did not have any information about the rescheduling of Blinken’s flight to Beijing.
“It’s hard for me to predict at this at this point when this kind of reengagement will reoccur, but we have never supported an icing of this relationship,” Burns stressed.
Biden and Jinping had a ‘productive’ meeting in Bali
The top US diplomat, however, stressed that he had held several “fruitful” meetings with his Chinese counterparts including Minister of Foreign Affairs Qin Gang, and his predecessor Wang Yi. Also, Burns claimed that the meeting between the two Presidents– Joe Biden and Jinping– in Bali was a “very productive exchange”.
Further, US Ambassador to China claimed that the Biden administration has been calling on Beijing to open all of the channels they suspended following Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.
“That’s been a good sign that we’ve been able to pass messages, trade views, talk about difficult issues, sometimes at great length here in Beijing, but you do need a broader relationship than that,” added Burns.
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