WASHINGTON – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Jan 12 raised concerns over China’s human rights issues in a meeting with senior Chinese official Liu Jianchao in Washington, the State Department said, adding that they also discussed “maintaining peace and stability” in the Taiwan Strait.
Senior US and Chinese officials have held regular discussions recently to keep communication lines open between the world’s two largest economies.
The meeting on Jan 12 came a day ahead of elections in Taiwan that will test efforts to ease US-China tensions and was the latest in a flurry of bilateral interactions following a November summit between United States President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in San Francisco.
Ties between the two sides have otherwise been tense in recent years over a range of issues, including trade tariffs, Taiwan, human rights and the origins of Covid-19.
Mr Blinken “emphasised the importance of resolving the cases of American citizens who are wrongfully detained or subject to exit bans in China and raised US concerns about (China’s) human rights abuses”, the State Department said in a statement.
“The Secretary reiterated the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the South China Sea,” it said.
The State Department said the two also discussed North Korea and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as the situation in the Red Sea and the Middle East, where observers fear a widening of Israel’s war in Gaza after strikes in Yemen by the US and Britain.
The Jan 13 presidential and parliamentary contests in Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, represent the first real wild card in 2024 for the Biden administration’s goal of stabilising ties with China.
The US is Taiwan’s most important international backer and arms supplier even though Washington does not formally recognise its government, maintaining official relations only with Beijing.
Taiwan’s government has accused China of election interference to sway the vote towards candidates Beijing may prefer. China has labelled those allegations “dirty tricks”.
Other communication between China and the US included a meeting on Jan 10 between Mr Liu and White House deputy national security adviser Jon Finer, a phone call on Jan 11 between US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, and the resumption of long-frozen military talks. REUTERS
