‘Meet China halfway’: Foreign Minister Qin Gang and US envoy Nicholas Burns break ‘spy balloon’ diplomatic ice

Qin tells Nicholas Burns that the top priority is to stabilise relations between the two countries

The minister is the highest-ranking Chinese official known to have met a US representative since the balloon sent tensions soaring

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Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang meets US ambassador Nicholas Burns in Beijing on Monday. Photo: Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Published: 8:00pm, 8 May 2023Updated: 8:19pm, 8 May 2023

In his first public meeting with a US official since the “spy balloon” saga, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said the top priority for the two countries is to prevent a “downward spiral” in US-China relations.

Qin told US ambassador to China Nicholas Burns in Beijing on Monday that China and the United States should maintain this bottom line and avoid further incidents.

“The top priority is to stabilise China-US relations, avoid a downward spiral, and prevent accidents between China and the United States. This should be the most basic consensus and a bottom line for countries to keep, especially two major countries,” he said.

“[We] hope the US will reflect deeply, meet China halfway, and push China-US relations out of the predicament and back on track.”

Qin added that “a series of wrongful rhetoric and actions” by the US had undermined the “important consensus” reached between presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden in Bali last year, disrupting dialogue and cooperation between the two countries.

After the meeting, Burns said in a tweet: “We discussed challenges in the US-China relationship and the necessity of stabilising ties and expanding high-level communication.”

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