Update on Sino-U.S. Relations

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When U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman was preparing to fly to China this weekend, Beijing imposed sanctions on seven Americans, and the tit-for-tat blow illustrates the bleak state of U.S.-China relations.

U.S. officials said the move was revenge Washington imposed sanctions on seven Chinese officials in Hong Kong, and Sherman will not give Beijing any bargaining chips Meet Wang YiOn Monday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of China.

But the latest Qi Fa highlights the deepening gap between the United States and China as the two countries are preparing for their second high-level meeting since Joe Biden took office.

In the first six months of taking office, Biden issued a tough tone towards China, punishing Beijing for its suppression of freedom. Hongkong, Persecution of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang and military activities near Taiwan.The president hopes that this strategy, coordinated and supported by allies, will help the United States win what he believes is the struggle for survival. Between democracy and despotism.

Oriana Skylar Mastro, an expert on China at Stanford University, said that Biden has successfully demonstrated to China that the dissatisfaction of the United States is not limited to the previous administration in Washington. But she added that there is no sign that he has persuaded Chinese President Xi Jinping to change course.

“Unfortunately, they decided to redouble their efforts on all problematic behaviors,” she said. “I don’t think they are looking in the mirror the way we want.”

Yang Jiechi, China’s top foreign policy official, finished first, Intense meeting In March, Biden administration officials announced that the United States would no longer “stand in a strong position” in dialogue with China.

Beijing continues to resist pressure from Washington.It approved a Anti-sanctions law Last month it allowed it to punish anyone who helped other countries use sanctions against China.

Although Beijing shows no signs of retreat, the Biden administration argues that its multilateral approach makes life more difficult for China.This includes coordinated actions with the European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada Impose sanctions on Xinjiang and Deepen the “quartet” Initiatives with Japan, Australia and India.

“These multilateral actions have indeed attracted Beijing’s attention, in some cases… They have actually led Beijing to take measures that may actually go against its own interests in many ways,” said a senior US official, who pointed out that China has targeted Retaliation by EU citizens Already endangered A cornerstone investment treaty.

Lin Bangni, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that Biden has persuaded allies to express their views on China’s Tibet“The question is to what extent the current measures will cause China to change, but from the US perspective, it makes sense for us to oppose China’s various problematic actions in all three regions,” Lin said.

Eric Sayers, an Asian security expert at the American Enterprise Institute, said that Biden has achieved “considerable performance on the board of directors by launching Quad, deepening relations with Taiwan, and adopting a multilateral approach to China’s human rights violations. victory”. Cyber ??warfareBut he said that it would be a “difficult task” to turn the areas of concern of Asian and European partners into joint actions, including actions on export controls.

Sayers said that the Biden administration still has work to do on other issues, including ensuring that the U.S. military budget and strategy are tailored to deal with “conventional Military imbalance“, and solve technology-related challenges, such as Beijing’s promotion of development digital renminbi.

Although China has taken an increasingly provocative stance, some experts believe that its confidence is not as good as the image it projects, and Xi Jinping hopes Summit with Biden At the G20 in Italy-this is one of the issues that Sherman is expected to discuss with Wang Yi in Tianjin.Such summits can be used to seek outspoken criticism of China’s human rights practices and “War Wolf” Diplomacy.

Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy, a China expert at the Taiwan Next Generation Foundation, said: “Maintaining a globally strong and respected image of China will also help Xi Jinping maintain his personal authority on the domestic agenda.”

Sana Hashmi, an expert at the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation, said that China is also worried about the Quartet, especially Biden is preparing to hold the first face-to-face summit with the leaders of the alliance. “No matter how confident China may be, it is worried about the institutionalization of the Group of Four,” she said.

Among the many thorny issues in U.S.-China relations, the most The serious one is TaiwanEspecially when China upgraded its military flight to the air defense identification zone of the island. Some U.S. military and civilian officials said that despite other officials in the Biden administration, China is getting closer and closer to trying to seize control of Taiwan. Try to suppress Avoid conflicting speech.

Wang Chong, a foreign policy expert at Zhejiang International Studies University, said that China hopes to ease military tensions, especially on the Taiwan issue. He said that Wang and the Chinese negotiating team will use the meeting with Sherman to improve communication to ensure that there are no “mistakes.”

US officials declined to provide specific details of the meeting. But an official said that the senior diplomat will “emphasize that we don’t want this fierce and continuous competition to fall into conflict.”

Additional report by Sherry Fei Ju in Beijing

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