BEIJING — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up his just-concluded latest visit to China with a stop at a Beijing record store where he bought albums by Taylor Swift and Chinese rocker Dou Wei in a symbolic nod to cross-cultural exchanges and understanding he had been promoting for three days.
Music, he said at the Li-Pi shop on his way to the airport late Friday, “is the best connector, regardless of geography.”
Yet Swift’s “Midnights” and Dou Wei’s “Black Dream” could just as easily represent the seemingly intractable divisions in the deeply troubled relationship between the world’s two largest economies that both sides publicly and privately blame on the other.
Blinken and his Chinese interlocutors, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, all referred to these rifts even as they extolled the virtues of keeping communication channels open to manage these differences and avoid misunderstandings and miscalculations.
Blinken went out of his way to champion the importance of U.S.-China exchanges at all levels. In Shanghai, he ate at a famous soup dumpling restaurant, attended a Chinese basketball playoff game and visited with American and Chinese students at the New York University branch. In his official meetings with Chinese leaders in Beijing, he spoke repeatedly of improvements in ties over the past year.
But he also stressed that the U.S. has serious and growing concerns with China’s policies and practices on the local, regional and global stages. And, he said, the U.S. would not back down. “America will always defend our core interests and values,” he said.
On several occasions, he slammed Chinese overproduction of electric vehicles that threatened to have detrimental effects on U.S. and European automakers and complained that China was not doing enough to stop the production and export of synthetic opioid precursors.
At one point he warned bluntly that if China does not end support for Russia ’s defense industrial sector, something the Biden administration says has allowed Russia to step up its attacks on Ukraine and threaten European security, the U.S. would act to stop it. “I made clear that if China does not address this problem, we will,” Blinken told reporters after meeting with Xi.
Chinese officials were similarly direct, saying that while relations have generally improved since a low point last year over the shootdown of a Chinese surveillance balloon, they remained fraught.
“The two countries should help each other succeed rather than hurt each other, seek common ground and reserve differences rather than engage in vicious competition, and honor words with actions rather than say one thing but do the opposite,” Xi told Blinken in a not-so-veiled accusation of U.S. hypocrisy.
Wang, the foreign minister, said China is fed up with what it considers to be U.S. meddling in human rights, Taiwan and the South China Sea and efforts to restrict its trade and relations with other countries. “Negative factors in the relationship are still increasing and building and the relationship is facing all kinds of disruptions,” he said. He urged the U.S. “not to step on China’s red lines on China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests.”
Or, as Yang Tao, the director general of North American and Oceania affairs at the Foreign Ministry, put it, according to the official Xinhua News Agency: “If the United States always regards China as its main rival, China-US relations will continuously face troubles and many problems.”
Still, Blinken pressed engagement on all levels. He announced a new agreement to hold talks with China on the threats posed by artificial intelligence but lamented a dearth of American students studying in China – fewer than 900 now, compared to more than 290,000 Chinese in the U.S. He said both sides wanted to increase that number.
“We have an interest in this, because if our future leaders – whether it’s in government, whether it’s in business, civil society, climate, tech, and other fields – if they’re going to be able to collaborate, if they want to be able to solve big problems, if they’re going to be able to work through our differences, they’ll need to know and understand each other’s language, culture, history,” he said. But he added a caveat the Chinese were likely to see as a barb.
“What I told my PRC counterparts on this visit is if they want to attract more Americans here to China, particularly students, the best way to do that is to create the conditions that allow learning to flourish anywhere – a free and open discussion of ideas, access to a wide range of information, ease of travel, confidence in the safety, security, and privacy of the participants,” Blinken said.
Those are issues that neither Taylor Swift nor Dou Wei can overcome.
FAQs
They have significant economic ties and are significantly intertwined, yet they also have a global hegemonic great power rivalry. As of 2023, China and the United States are the world's second-largest and largest economies by nominal GDP, as well as the largest and second-largest economies by GDP (PPP) respectively.
Is there tension between the US and China? ›
In recent years, tensions between the United States and China have introduced new challenges—especially related to economic and defense issues.
How does China view the US? ›
Survey results indicate that 75% of respondents in China held negative views of the U.S. By comparison, according to a study conducted by the Eurasia Group two years earlier, only 17% of respondents in China had reported unfavorable feelings toward the U.S.
Which president started relations with China? ›
A new era began with a rapprochement during Richard Nixon's presidency. Nixon and his aide, Henry Kissinger, found ready partners in Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, and Zhou Enlai, the Chinese Premier, who also wanted to improve Sino-U.S. relations.
What will China overtake the United States as? ›
The tipping point in history is set, the curves are due to cross, and China will outpace the US to become the world's leading economic power once again.
Is China still a threat to the US? ›
The counterintelligence and economic espionage efforts emanating from the government of China and the Chinese Communist Party are a grave threat to the economic well-being and democratic values of the United States. Confronting this threat is the FBI's top counterintelligence priority.
How much does the US owe China? ›
China is one of the United States's largest creditors, owning about $859.4 billion in U.S. debt. 1 However, it does not own the most U.S. debt of any foreign country. Nations borrowing from each other may be as old as the concept of money.
Who are China allies with? ›
China entered into diplomatic relations with Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Maldives in Southeast Asia and South Asia, seven countries including Iran, Turkey and Kuwait in West Asia and the Middle East and five countries in South Pacific such as Fiji and Papua New Guinea.
What does US depend on China for? ›
In 2021, of $506.4 billion in the U.S. imports from China, the top commodity sectors were Machinery and Mechanical Appliances (47.7% of total U.S. imports from China), Furniture, Bedding, Lamps, Toys, Games, Sport Equipment, Paint, and Other Miscellaneous Manufactured Items (13.5%), and Chemicals, Plastics, Rubber, and ...
Which country is more developed, China or the USA? ›
As of 2021, both the U.S. and China fall above the world average on the United Nations' Human Development Index, but the U.S. is considered a very high human development country while China is labeled a high human development country.
①The 28 countries that have established partnerships, cooperative relations or strategic relations of mutual benefit with China are Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Timor-Leste, Russia, the Philippines, Kazakhstan, the Republic of Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia, Laos, Maldives, Malaysia, ...
What would happen if the US stopped trading with China? ›
The costs to the U.S. economy if we were to prohibit domestic companies (impacting companies such as GE, Honeywell, Collins, and Parker Aerospace) from engaging with COMAC would be significant: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that losing access to China's aviation market would translate into a loss of $38 ...
Is Japan an US ally? ›
Under the alliance, Japan and the United States closely work together, sharing roles and responsibilities not only on bilateral issues, but on regional issues in the Asia-Pacific and global issues as well.
Are Russia and China allies? ›
On the basis of non-alliance, non-confrontation and not targeting any third party, China and Russia strive for lasting good-neighborliness and friendship and seek to deepen their comprehensive strategic coordination.
How much money does US owe to China? ›
China is one of the United States's largest creditors, owning about $859.4 billion in U.S. debt. 1 However, it does not own the most U.S. debt of any foreign country. Nations borrowing from each other may be as old as the concept of money.
How much does China rely on the US? ›
China has at least a 70% dependence on about 412 items imported from the U.S. and allied countries, at a value of roughly $47 billion annually, according to the analysis. Beijing lacks ready-made homegrown alternatives for many of the items.
Does the US agree with one China? ›
The United States "acknowledged" the "One China" position of both sides of the Taiwan Strait. U.S. policy has not recognized the PRC's sovereignty over Taiwan; U.S. policy has not recognized Taiwan as a sovereign country; and. U.S. policy has considered Taiwan's status as unsettled.
Who has more money China or USA? ›
US is at the top in nominal, whereas China is at the top in PPP since 2016 after overtaking the US. As of 2024, both countries together share 43.2% and 34.51% of the entire world's GDP in nominal and PPP terms, respectively.
