US-China talks: Alaska clashes may be a sign of Beijing’s low short-term expectations
- The two sides have agreed to work together to fight climate change, but the prospect of Xi Jinping and Joe Biden meeting face-to-face appears remote for now
- The US is pushing for concessions over Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Taiwan – but Beijing insists it will not back down on these issues
The public barbs exchanged between senior Chinese and US officials over Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan may suggest that Beijing is not pushing hard for further top-level meetings, according to Chinese analysts and sources.
The fact that the two sides were able to agree to set up a bilateral working group on climate change could pave the way for broader cooperation in the future, but observers believe the chances of a face-to-face meeting between Xi Jinping and Joe Biden in the near future are slim.
Jia Qingguo, an international relations professor at Peking University, said a meeting between the two presidents was unlikely for now because both sides need more time to reflect on last week’s meeting in Alaska between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and China’s foreign policy chief Yang Jiechi.
“At the moment, there is little trust between China and the US … climate change is one of the areas where the two counties could work together because both leaders are very concerned about it,” Jia said.
China and the US, the world’s top two economies, together account for 43 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions. While much of the industrialised world is looking to the US for signals on what action to take, many countries in the developing world are looking to China.