Cooperation on the North Korean Nuclear Issue Also Expected to Be Discussed
[Asia Economy Reporter Jo Yujin] Wendy Sherman, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, is expected to emphasize the need for the U.S. and China to avoid extreme confrontation and establish a fair playing field during the high-level U.S.-China talks held after four months, according to U.S. political media outlet The Hill on the 25th (local time).
According to reports, before the meeting with Wang Yi, Chinese Foreign Minister and State Councilor for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Secretary Sherman held a press conference where U.S. senior officials said she stated that both countries need to find responsible ways to manage competition.
A senior U.S. administration official said, "Deputy Secretary Sherman will emphasize that the two countries do not want their ongoing competition to escalate into conflict," adding, "The U.S. wants to make clear that there are guardrails and boundaries in responsibly managing the (U.S.-China) relationship."
This meeting was arranged amid escalating conflicts across various fronts since the inauguration of the Joe Biden administration, including cyberattacks, investigations into the origins of COVID-19, human rights issues in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and matters concerning Hong Kong and Taiwan.
After the U.S. sanctioned seven Chinese officials involved in human rights abuses in Hong Kong on the 16th, China retaliated on the 23rd by imposing sanctions on six Americans, including former U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and one institution, further deteriorating bilateral relations.
Because of this, there have been concerns that the two countries might expose disagreements and clash again over current issues rather than producing concrete outcomes in this dialogue.
Wendy Cutler, Vice President of the U.S. Asia Policy Institute, pointed out that expectations for this high-level U.S.-China diplomatic meeting should not be too high but evaluated it as "an important first step in resuming high-level dialogue and laying the groundwork for a possible Biden-Xi Jinping meeting at the upcoming (autumn) G20 summit."
Meanwhile, cooperation on the North Korean nuclear issue is also expected to be discussed at this meeting. Deputy Secretary Sherman has core experience handling North Korean issues, having served as the State Department’s Coordinator for North Korea Policy during the Bill Clinton administration. During her visit to South Korea on the 23rd, she said, "The complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is definitely an area for (U.S.-China) cooperation," and added, "I look forward to discussing this issue in meetings with the Chinese side."
Starting with Japan on the 18th, Sherman visited South Korea and Mongolia in sequence, and on the 25th and 26th, she will meet Wang Yi, Foreign Minister, and Xie Feng, Vice Minister in charge of U.S. affairs at the Chinese Foreign Ministry, in Tianjin, China. She is the highest-ranking U.S. government official to visit China since the Biden administration took office in January.
The face-to-face high-level dialogue between the U.S. and China comes four months after the high-level talks held in Alaska last March between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Yang Jiechi, member of the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party in charge of foreign affairs, and Wang Yi, Foreign Minister.
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