This was followed by efforts on both sides to frame the heated exchanges. Chinese state media later quoted an unnamed Chinese official – in a background briefing after the first day of talks – that China was sincere in its dialogue with the US, but the American side had overrun its opening remarks and made groundless accusations against China.

“This is not a way of hospitality, nor does it conform to diplomatic etiquette. China has responded solemnly to this,” the official said, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

In another sign of tension, the two sides did not sit down for a meal together, generally customary in meetings of this kind.

And a senior US official, speaking on background afterwards, countered that the US side had arrived hoping to lay out “the principles, interests, and values that animate our engagement with Beijing” but that the Chinese side “seems to have arrived intent on grandstanding, focused on public theatrics and dramatics over substance”.

The official also criticised the Chinese side for “violating protocol” by speaking for far longer than the agreed-upon two minutes.

Alaskans are unfazed by the high-level US-China diplomacy in their midst

After the tense public tit-for-tat, however, there was some indication the two sides managed to cool down behind closed doors.

“After the pool spray, Secretary Blinken opened the discussion, and both sides immediately got down to business,” said a senior official on background. “The ensuing conversation was substantive, serious, and direct. In fact, the discussion went well beyond the two hours we had allotted. We used the session, just as we had planned, to outline our interests and priorities, and we heard the same from our Chinese counterparts.”

03:42

‘Our intent is to be direct about our concerns’, Blinken kicks off US-China Alaska talks

‘Our intent is to be direct about our concerns’, Blinken kicks off US-China Alaska talks

And top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi during a lengthy address touted China’s success in containing Covid-19 and tackling poverty while the US was still battling the pandemic.

Sullivan set the tone. “We do not seek conflict, but we welcome stiff competition, and we will always stand up for our principles, for our people, and for our friends,” he said, according to a pool transcript of the meeting.

Yang quickly struck back, accusing Washington of using its financial and military might to squeeze other countries and adding that abusive US national security policies threatened the future of global trade. Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan were inseparable parts of China, he said.

The Communist Party enjoyed widespread support, he added, citing opinion polls, while the US should stop interfering in China’s internal affairs and had nothing to be proud of at a time when Black Americans were being “slaughtered”.

China urged to adopt ‘grand strategy’ to counter Biden containment plan

Washington should abandon its “cold war mentality” and legacy of confrontation, he continued, adding: “The United States does not represent international public opinion and neither does the Western world.”

When Yang finished, after more than 15 minutes, he smiled and said in English: “This is a test for the translator.” Blinken countered that the translator should get a raise.

Wang then adopted a more conciliatory tone, but referenced “unwarranted accusations from the US side”, adding: “This is not supposed to be the way one should welcome guests,” according to the reports.

What then followed, according to attendees, was a series of unscripted afterthoughts as reporters were told to leave, then called back to hear more.

“I don’t see the Biden administration believing that cooperation is essential,” said Elizabeth Economy, a fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. “And the Chinese are willing to tolerate quite a high degree of confrontation.”

Beijing – which is keen to engage Washington sooner rather than later, before the Joe Biden administration’s China policy is fully formed and US allies arrayed against it – has repeatedly characterised the meeting as the start of a substantive engagement and used the term “high-level strategic dialogue”.

Washington has characterised it as a one-off with little chance of going anywhere. “I wouldn’t see this as one in a series,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters this week. “This is a meeting that our national security adviser and secretary of state are attending, and I wouldn’t build it out beyond there at this point in time.”

Chinese state tabloid Global Times reported that tariffs would “definitely” be on the agenda. Sullivan told reporters the focus would be largely on broad policy, not tariffs.

00:59

Beijing wants China-US ties to return to ‘sound and steady growth’ track at Alaska talks

Beijing wants China-US ties to return to ‘sound and steady growth’ track at Alaska talks

And the two traded jabs this week over the Biden administration’s cornerstone policy of working closely with frustrated allies in pushing back on Beijing.

US Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell told Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald and sister publication The Age that defending the country against Chinese economic coercion was a top US priority. Beijing has cut off Australian imports and slammed Canberra rhetorically after it joined other nations in calling for an inquiry into the origin and early handling of Covid-19, which was first detected in Wuhan.

“We are not going to leave Australia alone in the field,” he said, adding that any improvement in US-China relations would only come after Beijing backed off.

The nationalist Global Times – at various times a provocateur, sounding board and indirect channel for official thinking – fired back. “Canberra delusional to think the China-US dialogue will focus on its woes,” it said in an “expert assessment”.

Even if the Americans did bring it up, the article added, “does that mean Chinese officials would have to listen?”

The two sides clearly were not doing much listening on Thursday.

“The Alaska meeting will not be successful, but it is important,” said Lee Seong-hyon, director of the Centre for Chinese Studies at Sejong Institute in Seoul. “It won’t be successful because both sides will not be fully satisfied. It will be an important meeting because both sides will confirm the other’s bottom lines. The emerging outcome will set the tone for a period of a “loose Cold War”.

Members of the Biden administration have criticised their Trump administration predecessors for negotiating too much in the media and by tweet, and eschewing diplomacy behind closed doors. But the Biden administration has been doing most of its early communications with China in front of the cameras.

Blinken said in an interview in Tokyo with TV Asahi that “the concerns that we’ve expressed publicly are the same ones that we’ll be expressing to them in private”.

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The two sides have also aired more petty differences. A US official said the Chinese had registered their unhappiness with the possibility of having to submit to coronavirus testing – required for all out-of-state visitors arriving at the airport in Anchorage – before the meeting.

An unwillingness to eat together was telegraphed days before. “Everything in the schedule is strictly business,” a US official said earlier in the week when asked about a shared meal, speaking on background.