Alaska summit: what message did public US-China spat send to observers?
- Observers believe the testy exchanges that opened the meeting in Alaska were aimed at domestic and international audiences
- US may have been trying to send a signal to its allies by accusing China of ‘coercion and aggression’
The combative tone of the meeting between senior Chinese and US officials in Alaska this week was designed to send a message to their respective domestic audiences but also to neighbouring countries, observers believe.
“[That] surprised me a lot. It’s really rare to see in a diplomatic setting,” Wu Xinbo, director of the Centre for American Studies at Fudan University, said.
He said the harsh comments from China’s foreign policy chief Yang Jiechi, a relatively traditional diplomat who is very particular about the appropriate etiquette in these settings, were particularly striking.
In the first round of talks on Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised the issues of Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan. He also accused China of carrying out cyberattacks on the US and using economic coercion against America’s allies.
Alaska summit: where the US and China agree and disagree
Yang hit back by accusing the US of violating diplomatic protocol, and warning that “the United States does not have the qualification to say that it wants to speak to China from a position of strength”.
Richard Heydarian, professorial chairholder in geopolitics at Polytechnic University of the Philippines, said both nations were playing to their domestic audiences.
“What we’re seeing is that bilateral tensions are increasingly structural,” he said.
Observers said neither side wanted to be seen as too accommodating towards the other.
02:23
Gloves off at top-level US-China summit in Alaska with on-camera sparring
A day before the talks began in Anchorage, the US sanctioned 24 Chinese and Hong Kong officials over their handling of the city’s affairs.
Meanwhile, Blinken and US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin had visited Japan and South Korea to reaffirm the US commitment to its allies.
During his trip to Japan, Blinken warned China against using “coercion and aggression” and accused Beijing of threatening regional stability. It was also announced the US and Japan would hold a joint exercise covering the East China Sea.
Collin Koh, a research fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said the US actions were largely directed at “external audiences, especially allies and partners”.
Alaskans are unfazed by the high-level US-China diplomacy in their midst
Koh said the explicit references to values and friends had been a deliberate nod towards concerns that the Biden administration may return to Obama-era policies by prioritising engagement with Beijing.
“So the explicit mention about Washington going to stand up for values and friends during the meeting had been deliberate towards this end,” he said.
“Of course, not to discount that the domestic audience could be important too, given the bipartisan consensus on the Chinese challenge to America’s national security interests, I tend to see the external audience as the key motivation rather than domestic.”
Wu, from Fudan University, said the Chinese side had been frustrated with the actions of the US before the talks.
“China cannot accept that the United States is trying to put pressure on China to make concessions in the opening remarks,” Wu said.
04:07
Alaska summit: China tells US not to underestimate Beijing’s will to safeguard national dignity
“There is a Chinese saying that ugly words should be said behind closed doors. However, the US is unwilling to respect China and its dialogue lacks sincerity”.
Wu continued: “Yang’s remarks reflected that we are not frightened by Biden’s strong position, and our diplomats are fighting on the front line.”
Wu Qiang, a Beijing-based political analyst, said the combative approach indicated that both sides are aware that their differences could not be bridged.
“They will just stick to their original judgments about the other side and prepare for a long-term struggle,” he said.
Is US-China friction at Alaska meetings a sign of worse to come?
Heydarian said the public bickering would not help to restores global confidence that the two superpowers can get relations back on track.
“Any kind of trade war or geopolitical conflict between the US and China will inevitably have a negative impact on regional trade and prosperity, ” he said.
