©Reuters. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi shake hands as they meet alongside the Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, Germany, February 16, 2024. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay/Pool
BEIJING (Reuters) -Washington should lift sanctions against Chinese companies and individuals, and attempts to disengage from China would only hurt the United States, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The United States should lift sanctions and not harm China’s legitimate development rights, Wang told Blinken on the sidelines of a Munich security conference on Friday, according to a statement from China’s Foreign Ministry.
Washington has imposed sanctions on several Chinese companies accused of collaborating with the Chinese military despite denials from the companies. US sanctions have also been imposed on individuals and entities for alleged human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region.
Sino-US relations have shown signs of improvement in recent months as both sides have taken steps to re-establish communication channels after ties between the two global superpowers fell to their lowest levels in decades.
But many points of friction remain.
The Biden administration has imposed bans on the sale of some technologies to Chinese companies, citing national security risks. China has accused Washington of “weaponizing” economic and trade issues.
“Turning the term “risk reduction” into “de-China,” building “little backyards and high walls,” and seeking “decoupling from China” will only backfire on the United States itself, Wang told Blinken.
The exchanges between the two men were “candid, substantive and constructive”, the ministry said in the statement released on Saturday.
Both sides exchanged views on regional issues, including the Ukrainian crisis and the Korean Peninsula, the statement said, without providing further details.
He added that envoys on the Korean Peninsula from both sides “will remain in contact.”
Wang also reiterated that the United States should stick to the one-China principle if it really wants stability in the Taiwan Strait.
“There is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is part of China’s territory, and this is the real status quo in the Taiwan issue,” Wang said.
China considers Taiwan to be part of its territory. But Taiwan firmly opposes China’s sovereignty claims and says only the island’s people can decide their own future.
US President Joe Biden has said that the United States does not support Taiwan’s independence. The United States, however, maintains unofficial relations with the democratically governed island and remains its most important supporter and arms supplier.
China and the United States have made some progress in bilateral relations since Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Biden in November, where they reached agreements on fentanyl, military communications and artificial intelligence on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit .
China and the United States held their first joint meeting of a working group on fentanyl precursor chemicals in Beijing in late January, and Chinese financial officials hosted U.S. Treasury officials earlier this month.
Blinken and Wang discussed exchanges “at all levels” between the two countries in the next phase and agreed to maintain dialogue in all areas, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry statement.