Blinken urges China to resume cooperation with US on climate change, combating narcotics

In National Day message, US secretary of state calls on Beijing to address global challenges together
Row over Pelosi visit to Taiwan has seen bilateral ties plunge to lowest point in four decades

US-China relations

Teddy Ng

Published: 4:00pm, 1 Oct 2022

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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called for the resumption of Sino-US cooperation in areas where it was suspended by Beijing following senior US lawmaker Nancy Pelosi’s controversial visit to Taiwan in August.

“As the United States works with the international community to tackle the great obstacles the world faces today, we welcome the cooperation of the People’s Republic of China in addressing global challenges in health, climate change, counternarcotics, and other areas where our interests intersect,” he said in a message celebrating China’s National Day on Saturday.

“We hope for a peaceful and happy year ahead for the people of China”.

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The message came amid rising tensions between China and the US that have seen bilateral ties plunge to the lowest point since their normalisation four decades ago. The trip to Taiwan by Pelosi, speaker of the US House of Representatives, angered Beijing and prompted it to suspend cooperation on climate change and the illegal trade in narcotics.

Beijing regarded Pelosi’s trip as an endorsement of Taiwan’s pro-independence agenda, even though Washington said its policies regarding the self-ruled island remained unchanged.

Beijing sees the island as part of China and has never ruled out the use of force to take control of it. Most countries, including the US, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state. Washington, however, opposes any attempt to take the island by force.

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US officials accused China of taking climate change and anti-narcotics efforts hostage by suspending cooperation, but Beijing said the retaliation was needed to defend its core interests and sovereignty.

China’s ambassador to the US, Qin Gang, told Newsweek in an interview published on Thursday that Beijing should not be blamed for America’s opioid crisis.

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China to ban all fentanyl variants

He said US sanctions imposed on the Ministry of Public Security’s Institute of Forensic Science and the National Narcotics Laboratory over alleged human rights violations in Xinjiang had hindered China’s efforts to fight the narcotics trade.

China and the US set up working groups to address the fentanyl problem in 2015. The synthetic opioid is highly addictive and overdoses kill tens of thousands of Americans each year.

President Xi Jinping promised then US president Donald Trump in 2018 that he would crack down on the production and distribution of the drug. Beijing listed fentanyl as a controlled substance in 2019, leading to a drop in supply to the US to almost zero.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi (right) and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meet at the UN headquarters in New York on September 23. Photo: Reuters

Blinken had a meeting with Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session late last month.

Both sides agreed to continue communication, and Wang said the US had no right to intervene in how the Taiwan issue was resolved.

He said US officials had sent “very wrong, dangerous signals” on Taiwan, and warned that China was determined to safeguard its territorial integrity. Blinken had called on China to end provocative actions against Taiwan.

On Wednesday, US Vice-President Kamala Harris said the US would strengthen “unofficial ties” with Taiwan and support its self-defence.