Experts: Time for US to build on goodwill

President Xi Jinping meets with visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Beijing, June 19, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

Relations: Analyst calls for averting decline of ties

Officials and policy observers have welcomed the meetings that President Xi Jinping and senior Chinese diplomats had in Beijing with United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, saying that the talks offered hope on reining in the two-way tension and introducing more certainty to future prospects.

Now it's time for Washington to continue trading goodwill with Beijing, faithfully implement the consensus made between the two sides and minimize the chance of dragging the ties to another low, they said.

During President Xi's meeting with Blinken on Monday afternoon, Xi "spoke with an overarching perspective and elaborated on the principled position on stabilizing and developing China-US ties", said Yang Tao, director-general of the Foreign Ministry's Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs.

The series of meetings with Blinken were "candid, in-depth and constructive", he said, adding that the top priority now — and the most important outcome of the China trip — is for both sides to faithfully implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state at their meeting last year in Bali, Indonesia, and return to the agenda set by that meeting.

"We're on the right trail here," US President Joe Biden said on Monday regarding Blinken's visit.

The latest meetings have attracted great attention from the public in both countries, analysts said.

Cai Tongjuan, a researcher at Renmin University of China's Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, said, "There are many individuals and organizations from both nations calling for securing the bilateral friendship."

Tom Watkins, president and CEO of TDW and Associates, a US-based business and education consulting company, said Xi's meeting with Blinken "sent a clear message to the world that both sides value dialogue and cooperation over conflict".

Rong Ying, vice-president of the China Institute of International Studies, said it is a point made consistently by Beijing that the relations matter not only to both nations, but also to the peace, development and stability of the whole of humanity.

"We expect the Biden administration could tackle China-US ties from this perspective and work together in exploring the way for the two major countries to get along well in the new era," he said.

Wichai Kinchong Choi, senior vice-president of Thai bank Kasikornbank, said it is "good to have the two countries get back to the negotiating table", as "Thailand and other ASEAN countries want to see the region have peaceful and stable development, which is largely affected by the world's two largest economies".

Lawrence Loh, a professor of strategy and policy and director of National University of Singapore's Centre for Governance and Sustainability, said the visit was "a significant development amidst the escalating geopolitical tensions between the two countries", adding that "a stable bilateral relationship must be based on firm actions rooted in the fundamental principle of mutual respect".

Khalid Taimur Akram, executive director of the Islamabad-based Pakistan Research Center for a Community with Shared Future, said, "China always wishes for a strong and stable China-US relationship.

"The US must engage in dialogue and cooperation based on equality and mutual respect, and maintain a commitment to inclusivity and openness rather than exclusivity and confrontation," he said.

Su Xiaohui, deputy director of the Department of American Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said, "It is time for translating into reality the latest consensus made between Beijing and Washington, and the US should break away from its two-faced approach in dealing with China — saying one thing and doing another.

"Washington should focus on perceiving China in an objective, rational way and adjust its China policy to avert the further decline of the relations," she added.

During State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang's meeting with Blinken, the two sides agreed to encourage people-to-people exchanges and actively discuss an increase in passenger flights between the two countries.

The departments of both countries in charge of this matter "have maintained communication" on increasing the number of passenger flights, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Tuesday.

"We are willing to work with the US side to promote the increase of passenger flights in a flexible and pragmatic manner," she said.

Xu Weiwei in Hong Kong, Yang Wanli in Bangkok and Su Qiang in New York contributed to this story.