Laos:

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Saturday during a regional summit in Laos, hours after criticising Beijing’s “escalating and unlawful actions” in the South China Sea.

Blinken and Wang shook hands and exchanged greetings in front of cameras but made no comments before moving to closed-doors talks in what will be their sixth meeting since June 23, when Blinken visited Beijing in a significant sign of improvement for strained relations between the world’s two biggest economies.

Though Blinken had singled out China over its actions against U.S. defence ally the Philippines in the South China Sea during a meeting with Southeast Asian counterparts earlier on Saturday, he also lauded the two countries for their diplomacy after Manila completed a resupply mission to troops in an area also claimed by Beijing.

The troop presence has for years angered China, which has clashed repeatedly with the Philippines over Manila’s missions to a grounded navy ship at the Second Thomas Shoal, causing regional concern about an escalation.

The two sides this week reached an arrangement over how to conduct those missions.

“We are pleased to take note of the successful resupply today of the Second Thomas shoal, which is the product of an agreement reached between the Philippines and China,” Blinken told ASEAN foreign ministers.

“We applaud that and hope and expect to see that it continues going forward.”

Gaza Situation ‘Dire’

Blinken and Wang attended Saturday’s security-focussed ASEAN Regional Forum in Laos alongside top diplomats of major powers including Russia, India, Australia, Japan, the European, Britain and others, before heading to their meeting.

Blinken said earlier the United States was “working intensely every single day” to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and find a path to more enduring peace and security.

His remarks follow those of Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, who said the need for sustainable peace was urgent and international law should be applied to all. The comment from the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, was a veiled reference to recent decisions by two international courts over Israeli’s Gaza offensives.

“We cannot continue closing our eyes to see the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza,” she said.

More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting in Gaza since Israel launched its incursion, according to Palestinian health authorities, who do not distinguish between fighters and non-combatants.

Israeli officials estimate that some 14,000 fighters from fighter groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have been killed or taken prisoner, out of a force they estimated to number more than 25,000 at the start of the war.

The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting some 250 others, according to Israeli tallies.

Also in Laos, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said guidelines on the operation of U.S. nuclear assets on the Korean peninsula were certain to add to regional security concerns.

Lavrov, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap, said he had not been briefed on the details of the plan, which was of concern to Russia.

“So far we can’t even get an explanation of what this means, but there is no doubt that it causes additional anxiety,” Russia’s state-run RIA new agency quoted him as saying.

‘This Is Not Sustainable’

Ahead of Saturday’s two summits, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong urged Myanmar’s military rulers to take a different path and end an intensifying civil war, pressing the generals to abide by their commitment to follow ASEAN’s five-point consensus peace plan.

The conflict pits Myanmar’s well-equipped military against a loose alliance of ethnic minority rebel groups and an armed resistance movement that has been gaining ground and testing the generals’ ability to govern.

The junta has largely ignored the ASEAN-promoted peace effort, and the 10-member bloc has hit a wall as all sides refuse to enter into dialogue.

“We see the instability, the insecurity, the deaths, the pain that is being caused by the conflict,” Wong told reporters.

“My message from Australia to the regime is, this is not sustainable for you or for your people.”

An estimated 2.6 million people have been displaced by fighting. The junta has been condemned for excessive force in its air strikes on civilian areas and accused of atrocities, which it has dismissed as Western disinformation.

ASEAN issued a communique on Saturday, two days after its top diplomats met, stressing it was united behind its peace plan for Myanmar, saying it was confident in its special envoy’s resolve to achieve “an inclusive and durable peaceful resolution” to the conflict.

It condemned violence against civilians and urged all sides in Myanmar to cease hostilities.

ASEAN welcomed unspecified practical measures to reduce tension in the South China Sea and prevent accidents and miscalculations, while urging all stakeholders to halt actions that could complicate and escalate disputes.

The ministers described North Korea’s missile tests as worrisome developments and urged peaceful resolutions to the conflicts in Ukraine, as well as Gaza, expressing concern over the dire humanitarian situation and “alarming casualties” there.

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

Washington:

China’s top diplomat voiced hope Thursday for more stable relations with the United States after months of turbulence as he paid a rare trip to Washington to prepare a potential visit by President Xi Jinping.

President Joe Biden has invited Xi to San Francisco to participate in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, but he has also stood firm on China in the run-up, keeping up a stream of targeted sanctions and staunchly backing US allies in disputes with Beijing.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi began by meeting Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who told his guest that he looked forward to “constructive conversations” that will include a dinner and more formal talks.

Wang told Blinken, who paid a visit to Beijing in June, that China wanted to “reduce misunderstanding.”

“We seek to expand cooperation that will benefit both sides so that we can stabilize US-China relations and return them to the track of healthy, stable and sustainable development,” Wang said.

Acknowledging that differences will still come up, Wang said that China hoped to respond “calmly, because we are of the view that what is right and what is wrong is not determined by who has the stronger arm or the louder voice.”

On Friday, Wang will speak at the White House with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. No meeting has been announced with Biden, but an encounter is widely expected after Xi received Blinken in Beijing.

US officials have repeatedly spoken of creating “guardrails” with China to prevent worst-case scenarios and have sought, without success, to restore contact between the two militaries.

“We’re going to compete with China (in) every way according to the international rules — economically, politically, in other ways. But I’m not looking for conflict,” Biden said Wednesday as he welcomed Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Biden also warned China of US treaty obligations to the Philippines, which said that Chinese vessels deliberately hit Manila’s boats in dispute-rife waters — an account contested by Beijing.

Tensions have been particularly high over Taiwan, the self-ruling democracy claimed by Beijing which over the past year has launched major military exercises in response to actions by US lawmakers.

China’s defense ministry on Thursday accused Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party of pushing the island toward a “dangerous situation of war.”

– What are ‘stable’ ties? –

Robert Daly, director of the Wilson Center’s Kissinger Institute on China and the United States, said Wang will likely seek assurances that the Biden administration will not “embarrass” Xi if he comes to San Francisco, either through harsh new policies or public comments.

“They would like to have a smooth glide path and then a smooth exit from the meeting,” he said.

Daly said the two powers had very different views on what “stable” ties mean, with the United States having no intention of changing course from viewing China as a threat and applying pressure.

“By stabilization, we mean that we want to be able to do that without greatly increasing the chance of conflict,” Daly said.

“The Chinese view is that stabilization would mean America ceasing this relentless stream of provocations and insults such that China is free to focus on its extremely weak domestic economy,” he said.

The Biden administration in recent months has tightened export curbs on chips to China, stepped up military support for Taiwan and issued sanctions targeting individual Chinese over support for Iran’s drone program and over production of chemicals that make fentanyl, the painkiller behind an addiction epidemic in the United States.

Biden has also championed alliances in the face of China’s rise. He has forged a new three-way military alliance with Australia and Britain and promoted the “Quad” with Australia, India and Japan.

The United States and China have also traded barbs over the conflict in the Middle East, where Biden has been Israel’s foremost ally.

The diplomacy with China comes as the United States enters an election season in which Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump, who is seeking to return to the White House, has made hawkish criticism of Beijing a signature policy.

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

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks during a news conference in Beijing, Oct. 18, 2023. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will come to Washington for a three-day visit starting Thursday. It’s the latest move by the two countries to keep high-level talks open as the U.S. contends with China’s rise as a global power.
| Photo Credit: AP

China’s top diplomat Wang Yi will travel to the United States later this week, senior Biden administration officials said on Monday, in a long-anticipated visit that comes amid soaring tensions in the Middle East, which U.S. officials hope Beijing can help contain.

Mr. Wang will visit Washington from Oct. 26-28 and meet with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and President Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, officials said, declining to say if he will meet with Mr. Biden as well.

The trip will be the highest-level in-person engagement ahead of an expected meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in San Francisco in November. It is also the long-awaited reciprocal visit after several top U.S. officials including Mr. Blinken visited Beijing this summer.

Also Read | U.S., China pledge to improve relations, resume high-level talks after Blinken’s visit

Washington’s top priority has been to ensure the intense competition between the world’s two largest economies and their disagreements over a host of issues from trade to Taiwan and the South China Sea does not veer into conflict.

“We continue to believe that direct face-to-face diplomacy is the best way to raise challenging issues, address misperception and miscommunication, and explore working with the Chinese where our interests intersect,” said one official, who briefed reporters on the trip on condition of anonymity.

The visit also comes as Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks and Israel’s response dominate global headlines, even as Russia’s war in Ukraine grinds on.

Washington is sending military aid to Israel and Ukraine, while Beijing has grown closer to Russia since the Ukraine war began and has called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

The Israel-Hamas war and Russia’s war in Ukraine would both be discussed, a second official said, adding that the U.S. would “push the Chinese to take a more constructive approach on both.”

Also Read | Xi Jinping tells top senator U.S.-China relations impact ‘destiny of mankind’

Washington has placed importance on China’s ability to influence Iran. Mr. Blinken, during his whirlwind trip last week to the Middle East, held a phone call with Mr. Wang asking him to use Beijing’s clout in the region to ensure the conflict does not widen.

China has consistently called for restraint and a ceasefire in response to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza following the Hamas attacks that killed 1,400 Israelis but has also sharpened its criticism of Israel.

Territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas would also be on the agenda during Wang’s visit, the U.S. officials said, adding that Washington was deeply concerned by China’s “destabilizing and dangerous actions” in the South China Sea.

The Philippines, a U.S. ally, on Monday accused Chinese coastguard vessels of “intentionally” colliding with its vessels on a resupply mission, in the most serious incident yet in the waters around the disputed Second Thomas shoal.

Re-establishing military-to-military ties with China remains a top U.S. priority, the officials said, adding that meant sustained communications down the ranks and that China’s apparent lack of a Defense Minister would not be an obstacle.

Defense Minister Li Shangfu has not been seen in public for nearly two months amid a corruption probe.