Xi and Blinken cap China trip with vow to steady ties to ward off conflict

• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s landmark trip to China ended on 19 Jun with a commitment from both countries to try to stabilise ties to prevent their intensifying rivalry from descending into conflict.
• The closely watched two-day visit wrapped up with a meeting between Blinken and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who told the visiting diplomat that the world needed a stable US-China relationship and that the two countries should handle ties with a sense of responsibility.
• Xi told Blinken that rivalry between great powers could not solve problems in the United States or challenges facing the world, and the two powers should seek to respect each other’s interests.
• Both US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo have said they hope to travel to China this year.
• State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the two sides agreed to continue discussions on developing principles to guide the bilateral relationship and encouraged further progress, including through the joint working groups.
• Both sides also underscored that they should work together to address shared transnational challenges, such as climate change, global macroeconomic stability, food security, public health, and counter-narcotics.
• In what appeared to be a conciliatory tone, Xi said China hoped for the return of “healthy and stable” relations with the US, and that he believed the two countries could “overcome all difficulties and find the right way to get along”.

External Link : https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3224560/antony-blinken-and-wang-yi-meet-beijing-us-and-china-push-mend-strained-relationship