US-China talks unlikely to improve ties in the long run, says Asia Society’s Ronnie Chan Chi-chung

Chan said talks were unlikely to improve ties and called those interpreting dialogue as olive branches as ‘ignorant’

China is disadvantaged in diplomacy and public opinion, the soft-power dimensions of the US-China confrontation, he adds

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A screen at a Beijing restaurant shows Chinese President Xi Jinping attending a virtual meeting with US President Joe Biden via video link. Photo: Reuters

Published: 7:30am, 24 Nov 2021Updated: 9:20am, 24 Nov 2021

Talks between China and the United States are unlikely to improve ties significantly as the countries are set for long-term confrontation decades in the making, said the chairman of the Asia Society’s Hong Kong centre on Tuesday.

Changes in US leadership from the more adversarial Donald Trump to Joe Biden will not drastically change American policy on China, said Ronnie Chan Chi-chung, also a Hong Kong property tycoon.

“What we are seeing today, don’t blame Donald Trump,” he said at a seminar organised by the University of Hong Kong’s Research Hub on Institutions of China. “Donald Trump, no doubt, took [US-China relations] to hell, but he was just the last straw that broke the camel’s back. It was 30 years in the making.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Biden met in a 3½-hour virtual summit last week. Biden pushed for “common sense guard rails” and collaboration on issues such as climate change.

US President Joe Biden participates in a virtual meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House on November 15 in Washington. Photo: Getty Images via TNS

The two countries disagree on a plethora of issues, including trade, Taiwan, human rights in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, and territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

Chan said talks were unlikely to improve ties and called those interpreting the dialogue as olive branches as “ignorant” because it did not change the attitude of American politicians towards China.