Politics

China confirms ‘high-level strategic dialog’ with US

Beijing, Mar 11 (efe-epa).- The foreign ministry in Beijing confirmed Thursday that China will hold “a high-level strategic dialog” with the United States in Alaska on Mar. 18 and 19.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian revealed in a statement that the meeting comes “at the invitation of the US side,” the first details of which were revealed by Washington on Wednesday.

This is set to be the first official meeting between the two nations since Joe Biden became US president in January.

Despite China’s interest in re-channeling relations between the world’s two largest economies – which were severely damaged under former US President Donald Trump -, Beijing has not changed its premises for engaging with Washington.

In this regard, Zhao demanded that the US deal with bilateral relations between them “in an objective and rational way” “objectively and rationally, abandon the Cold War and zero-sum mentality” and “stop interfering in China’s internal affairs”.

The meeting in Alaska will be attended by the Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan from the US side, while China will be represented by the director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, Yang Jiechi, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

The meeting come at the conclusion of Blinken’s tour of Japan and South Korea – two major allies of the US in the Asia-Pacific – that begins early next week.

While neither China nor the US has provided details on the issues that will be on the agenda of their meetings, they are expected to discuss the pandemic, as well as environmental and economic issues.

However, despite its importance, the meeting is unlikely bring results in the short term, according to Liu Weidong, an expert on China-US relations from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. EFE-EPA

jt/sc

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