GOOD MORNING FROM LONDON
Chinese Foreign Vice-Minister, Xie Feng, met yesterday 26 July 2021 with US Deputy Secretary of State, Wendy Sherman. Xie was as straight-talking in Tianjin as State Councillor Yang Jiechi had been in Anchorage when he met with Secretary of State Blinken.
According to the South China Morning Post, Xie said US-China relations had reached a “stalemate” and faced “serious consequences”. Xie urged the US to repair the relationship by lifting sanctions against China + dropping its extradition request for Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer, Meng Wanzhou.
After the meeting, Xie said he had given two lists to the US. First, a list with remedial action for Washington to take towards China and, a second list containing China’s key concerns.
On the remedial list were the following;- the lifting of visa restrictions on Communist Party members, their families and Chinese students; lifting the sanctions imposed on Chinese leaders, government officials and agencies; removing restrictions on Confucius Institutes and Chinese companies; cancelling rulings determining Chinese media as foreign agents and dropping its request to extradite Meng Wenzhou.
The second list is the List of Concerns include addressing the unfair treatment of Chinese citizens in the US; harassment of the Chinese Embassy + consulates; the rise of anti-Asian + anti-Chinese sentiment, and violence against Chinese citizens.
In a direct message to the White House, Xie said “We urge the US not to underestimate the strong determination, firm will and strong ability of the 1.4bn Chinese people to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests…we urge the US side to change its incorrect thinking and very dangerous policy towards China.”
These are unmistakeably strong words. They need to be studied carefully especially the reference to safeguarding “security and development interests.” For China all options are open. What was started in Anchorage has continued in Tianjin.
