Jakarta-Pentagon Becomes Meeting Location to Ease US-China Tensions

Amid the busy agenda of the series of ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meetings in Jakarta, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Director of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Commission on Foreign Policy Wang Yi are scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting.

The following article was translated using both Microsoft Azure Open AI and Google Translation AI.

AFP/LEAH MILLIS

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (left) shakes hands with the Director of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China, Wang Yi, at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China on June 19, 2023. Both are scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Jakarta on Thursday (7/13/2023).

JAKARTA, KOMPAS - United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with Wang Yi, Director of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission (CFAC) of the Communist Party of China, during the series of ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meetings in Jakarta on Thursday (13/7/2023). This meeting plan was announced by the US Department of State.

Both core diplomats represented their respective countries at meetings with ASEAN foreign ministers and related meetings at the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and the East Asia Summit (EAS). Wang, who previously served as China's Foreign Minister, replaced Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who was unable to attend due to health issues.

The meeting between Blinken and Wang will be part of a series of meetings between US and China officials. These two countries are fiercely competing in various arenas, ranging from regional geopolitics, trade wars, military, technology competition, to the struggle for world supremacy.

Also read: Beijing-Washington's Close Embrace for ASEAN

Prior to Blinken and Wang's scheduled meeting in Jakarta, the Chinese Ambassador to the US, Xie Feng, held a meeting with officials from the US Department of Defense at the Pentagon in Airlington, Virginia, USA on Wednesday (7/12/2023) local time or early Thursday morning in WIB time. It is rare for a Chinese diplomat to come to the US Department of Defense headquarters (Pentagon), let alone discuss security issues.

In its brief statement, the Pentagon stated that Ambassador Xie discussed defense relations and "a number of international and regional security issues" in a meeting with US Deputy Defense Minister Ely Ratner. "Ratner also emphasized the Department of Defense's commitment to continue opening up channels of open communication between the US and China military," said Lieutenant Colonel Martin Meiners, a Pentagon spokesman.

AP/VINCENT THIAN

US Defense Minister Lloyd Austin III (right) sat next to Acting Defense Minister of Singapore Lawrence Wong (second from the right), while Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu sat on the left, listening to the opening speech at the 20th defense and security dialogue forum dinner in Singapore on June 2, 2023.

The meeting between Xie and Ratner lasted for approximately 90 minutes. In a written statement released early Thursday, the Chinese Embassy in Washington urged the United States to gradually restore the bilateral relationship and their military ties to the right track.

"A healthy and stable relationship between the US and China is in the common interests of both countries," Xie said during a meeting with Ratner, as reported by the Chinese Embassy in Washington.

Xie also requested "the US to take steps to remove obstacles, manage differences, handle Taiwan and other sensitive and important issues carefully in accordance with the three joint communiques principles between China and the US."

The healthy and stable relationship between the US and China is a shared interest of both countries.

According to Yun Sun, Director of the China Program at the Stimson Center, the meeting between Xie and Ratner is "quite unusual". "Chinese ambassadors do not usually meet with senior US defense officials," she said.

"This shows that China is at least responding to the concerns of the US, but the real progress still depends on time and negotiations," Sun continued.

While the relationship between the United States and China is at a low point regarding national security issues, including Taiwan, the US ban on exporting advanced technology to China, and Chinese government industrial policies, Washington is seeking to improve relations between the two largest economic powers in the world.

LEAH MILLIS/POOL PHOTO VIA AP

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on June 19, 2023.

Recently, Chinese Finance Minister Janet Yellen received a visit from US Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry who is scheduled to visit the "Land of the Bamboo Curtain" next week. Blinken also visited Beijing last month. This marks the US Secretary of State's first official visit to China since 2018.

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During a visit to Beijing last month, Blinken also met with Wang. A number of analysts assess that a series of recent meetings between US and Chinese officials is the prelude to a summit between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping this year. However, the relationship between the two countries remains tense.

During Blinken's last meeting with Wang in Beijing last June, the atmosphere was reported to be "quite heated". According to China's recorded meeting minutes, during the meeting in Beijing, Wang candidly conveyed to Blinken that the "root cause" of the dispute between the two countries was "the US' misperception of China" and "directionless policies (of the US) regarding China".

Regarding the Taiwan issue, one of the hottest and most sensitive topics in US-China relations, Wang's statement was delivered without hesitation. "China cannot compromise or make concessions (on the Taiwan issue)," said Wang.

In its relations with Taiwan, the US is bound by a law which states that Washington will provide protection to Taipei if Taiwan is attacked. However, on the other hand, the US recognizes China's position in the formula "One China policy (One China policy)". This situation is often referred to as the "strategic ambiguity" policy.

Last week, US Deputy Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink revealed that Blinken would collaborate with ASEAN countries in response to "the trend of China's unhelpful, coercive, and irresponsible actions." (AFP/REUTERS)