An expected meeting between Xi Jinping and Joe Biden would not be smooth-sailing said China’s Foreign Minister. File
| Photo Credit: AP

China’s Foreign Minister considers that the road to an expected meeting between President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden would not be “smooth-sailing” and that both sides must work together to achieve results, the Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.

Wang Yi met with Mr. Biden, as well as Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, during a three-day visit to Washington. Both sides agreed to work toward a bilateral meeting at the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit in San Francisco in November.

In a statement released by China’s Foreign Ministry summarising the discussions with members of the “U.S. strategic community,” Mr. Wang said that the road to the bilateral meeting would not be “smooth sailing” and that they could not rely on “autopilot” to make it happen.

Mr. Wang’s three-day visit to Washington came at a time when tensions between the two countries remain high, including over U.S. export controls on advanced technology and China’s more assertive actions in the East and South China seas.

The statement said that although there are still many issues to be resolved, both sides believe that it is both beneficial and necessary for the U.S. and China to maintain dialogue.

The meeting is the latest in a series of high-level contacts between the two countries as they explore the possibility of stabilising an increasingly tense relationship at a time of conflict in Ukraine and Israel.

According to the Foreign Ministry statement, Mr. Wang also said that China and the U.S. needed a “return to Bali,” in a reference to Mr. Xi and Mr. Biden’s previous meeting at a G-20 summit last year, where both officials discussed issues relating to Taiwan, U.S.-China trade tensions as well as cooperation to address issues like climate change, health and food security.

Mr. Wang said that the two countries must “eliminate interference, overcome obstacles, enhance consensus and accumulate results.”

Other issues discussed between Mr. Wang and Mr. Biden included military exchanges between the U.S. and China, as well as financial, technological and cultural exchanges and cooperation, as well as the crises in West Asia and Ukraine.

Beijing:

China removed former Foreign Minister Qin Gang from the post after an investigation concluded he’d conducted an affair and fathered a child while serving as US ambassador, the Wall Street Journal reported. Top officials were told in August that a Communist Party inquiry into Qin uncovered “lifestyle issues,” the newspaper reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the situation that it didn’t describe. That phrase usually means sexual misbehavior of some type in the parlance of Chinese officialdom.

Two of the people said the affair led to the birth of a child in the US. The probe, with Qin’s assistance, is now focusing on whether or not the affair compromised national security. China is locked in an ideological battle with the US, its chief economic and geopolitical rival, which has seen Beijing intensify a national security drive to shield it from foreign threats.

The Foreign Ministry in Beijing didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.  

China stripped Qin from his ministerial post in July, just seven months after he started the job – making his tenure the shortest in that role. No explanation was given for Qin’s removal as his predecessor Wang Yi was reinstated.

The episode raised questions over President Xi Jinping’s decision-making and the stability of the government running the world’s No. 2 economy. Those concerns are being rekindled by the current unexplained absence of Defense Minister Li Shangfu, amid media reports he’s being probed for corruption.

The ruling Communist Party’s senior ranks are now being scrutinized for their dealings with foreigners, the insiders told the WSJ, adding that the top brass in China’s military were also under the spotlight.

Few Chinese officials have risen as swiftly through the diplomatic ranks as Qin. His big break came in 2015 when he was given oversight of protocol at the foreign ministry. That six-year stint saw him organize state visits of top leaders to China.

It was likely in that role that Qin gained access to Xi. He was pictured beside the Chinese leader during a meeting with then US President Donald Trump in Beijing in 2017.

In 2021, Qin was sent to Washington, while he was still relatively unknown outside diplomatic circles or the Beijing press corps. He showed a flair for public relations, embracing American culture by openly attending a baseball game and riding in a Tesla Inc. with Elon Musk.

He also made moderate remarks on hot topics, arguing Beijing would’ve tried to stop Russia from invading Ukraine if it had known its plans and playing down the risk of a war with Taiwan. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The United Nations (UN) nuclear chief on September 18 said he asked to meet Iran’s President on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to try to reverse Tehran’s “uncalled for” ban on “a very sizable chunk” of the agency’s inspectors.

Rafael Grossi stressed that the Iranian government’s removal of many agency cameras and electronic monitoring systems installed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also make it impossible to give assurances about the country’s nuclear programme.

Mr. Grossi said he wrote to President Ebrahim Raisi telling him it is “very important” to meet about Tehran’s targeting of inspectors, including “some of the best and most experienced”.

“I’m waiting for an answer,” Mr. Grossi said in an interview with The Associated Press on September 18.

He also warned that escalating fighting is increasing the danger of a nuclear accident at Europe’s largest nuclear plant in Ukraine. Mr. Grossi said he is seeking to re-establish a dialogue with North Korea, which expelled UN nuclear weapons inspectors in 2009.

And he invited China to see how the IAEA tests treated water released from Japan’s Fukushima Daichi nuclear plant, which led Beijing to ban Japanese seafood.

The IAEA chief said Iran has the right to determine who enters the country, but he said he didn’t understand why Tehran was withdrawing authorisation for a “good number” of inspectors, which is “making my job much more difficult”. He called it a step in the wrong direction.

“It’s very difficult to get the expertise to go to very sophisticated uranium enrichment facilities with thousands of (centrifuge) cascades, lots of tubing and piping, and it requires … a lot of experience,” he explained. “So, when you start limiting that … I have to say, this is not good. Stop it!” Iran has denied impeding the work of IAEA inspectors though it has also been years since its experts have been able to examine surveillance footage.

The Vienna-based IAEA reported earlier this month that Iran had slowed the pace of enriching uranium to nearly weapons-grade levels. That was seen as a sign that Tehran was trying to ease tensions after years of strain with the United States, and one that took place as the rivals were negotiating a prisoner swap and the release of billions in frozen Iranian assets — which all took place on Monday.

Since Iran started limiting the actions of IAEA inspectors a little over a year ago, Mr. Grossi said, the agency hasn’t been able to see how many centrifuges and parts needed to assemble them are being produced.

So when the IAEA has to draw a baseline of where Iran’s nuclear programme is, he said, “How do I do it?” Mr. Grossi said military operations are increasing near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is on the front line of the Ukrainian counter-offensive. The June 6 destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in Russian-controlled territory led to deadly flooding, ruined crops in one of the world’s breadbaskets and lowered the level of water used to cool Zaporizhzhia’s reactors.

“Complications are adding up,” Mr. Grossi said, “and making the safety of the plant very, very fragile.” Initially, he said he urged both sides to adopt a no-fire zone outside the plant. That became impossible. So he has been urging the Ukrainians and Russians not to attack any nuclear plant.

Zaporizhzhia is in a Russian-controlled area but is staffed mainly by Ukrainians. There are also some Russian experts and IAEA inspectors who from time to time have acted as “a buffer” and defused some tense situations, Mr. Grossi said.

The IAEA chief called North Korea’s growing nuclear programme “one of the most difficult issues we have in front of us”.

Since the expulsion of IAEA inspectors in 2009, Mr. Grossi said, the agency has followed what Pyongyang has done from afar. “North Korea has become a de facto nuclear weapon possessor state,” he said, and that is “not a good development”.

Mr. Grossi said North Korea’s programme, including enrichment and construction of new reactors, has been growing without international monitoring or assessment of its safety. He wouldn’t say who the IAEA is engaging with to try to “turn the page” with North Korea but did say: “I am optimistic.” As for China’s concerns about the water being discharged from Japan’s Fukushima Daichi nuclear plant, Mr. Grossi said IAEA daily monitoring shows the level of tritium, a radionucleide that could be problematic, is extremely low.

The IAEA chief said South Korea also had concerns about the water being discharged from Fukushima, which was damaged by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011. He said he spoke to the President and Foreign Minister, and South Korea sent experts to see how the monitoring of the discharged water is being carried out.

Mr. Grossi said he wrote to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi a few days ago making a similar offer to explain the IAEA’s activities. He expressed hope that he could meet Wang in New York “to dispel doubts.” said Mr. Grossi: “I’m eager and available.”