|
|
Following the U.S. deal to sell Australia nuclear submarines, Chinese President Xi Jinping refused to meet with President Joe Biden after the U.S. leader hinted at the possibility during a phone call last week with Xi.
President Xi used “a less abrasive language than his top diplomat had done this year but his overall message to Biden was that the U.S. must tone down its rhetoric,” the Financial Times reported, citing five people with knowledge of the call.
The White House said in a statement that the two men had a “broad, strategic discussion” and they “agreed to engage on both sets of issues openly and straightforwardly.”
The White House has tried to dispel reports that Xi rejected a meeting request during their 90-minute phone call on 10 September.
“It’s not true,” Biden told reporters when pressed. Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, also rejected the FT’s report, saying it was “not an accurate portrayal of the call. Period.”
This was the second conversation between the two men since Biden took office. The Biden administration has made it clear that it considers Beijing an adversary in several areas, including human rights and technology. There are also lingering questions about the origins of the coronavirus.
Any report stating that Xi snubbed the U.S. for a meeting would be used as further evidence that Washington’s power is fading and it is China’s future. Another source told Reuters that the FT‘s report was accurate.
“Xi apparently intimated that the tone and atmosphere of the relationship needed to be improved first,” the source said.
Then and Now
In March, the Trends Journal reported on the tense meeting in Anchorage between diplomats from the U.S. and China in an article titled, “CHINA TELLS U.S. TO FU.”
The meeting was seen as an early gauge on how the Biden administration would approach Beijing, at least from a diplomatic standpoint. Biden’s diplomats struck a confrontational tone indicating that he intends to continue former President Trump’s tough posture against Beijing on topics like treatment of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang and its crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.
Yang Jiechi, the top diplomat from China, said the U.S. took a “condescending” approach to the meeting and essentially said Washington should get its house in order before accusing other countries of human rights abuses. He pointed to the Black Lives Matter movement that gained steam after the death of George Floyd in police custody last year.
“I don’t think the overwhelming majority of countries in the world would recognize the universal values advocated by the United States, or that the opinions of the United States could represent international public opinion,” Yang said, according to The New York Times. He said he found it unlikely that the “international order” would follow the guidelines put in place by a “small number of people.”
The FT reported that the U.S. eyed the G20 gathering in Italy in October for the meeting, but Xi may not attend.
TOP TRENDS 2021: “THE RISE OF CHINA”: As we have forecast, the 20th century was the American century—the 21st century will be the Chinese century. The business of China is business; the business of America is war.
While America spent countless trillions waging and losing endless wars and enriching its military-industrial complex, China has spent its trillions advancing the nation’s businesses and building its 21st-century infrastructure.