Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan are scheduled to meet with China’s director of China’s foreign affairs department Yang Jiechi and state councilor Wang Yi on Thursday and Friday.
The US has sought to build strength before overturning China this weekend and the quad summit is an example of this, a senior administration official said during a brief call with reporters on Tuesday night.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan are scheduled to meet Yang Jiechi, director of China’s Central Foreign Affairs Department, and state councilor Wang Yi on Thursday and Friday. Both US officials are largely engaged with allies, mainly in Europe and the Indo Pacific, since the administration closed on 20 January. Mr. Blinken is currently visiting Tokyo and Seoul with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
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The official said, “I think sometimes people think of our partners and partners being told only about choreography that somehow we need to talk to our partners before we talk to China Is, “officials, who did not want to be named. “I really don’t want to. Obviously sequencing is part of the equation here, but we are really working with partners and partners to strengthen our hands, ”said the official.
“Quad [summit] Last week was probably the most important very clear depiction of what we are trying to achieve here, bringing together four leaders for the first time at a virtual summit to actually do something that we personally Could not do; The vaccine in particular is deliverable which was big and positive for the region, ”the official said.
“This is nothing to counter China here. It is something that is really about doing something that enhances our leverage, enhances the quality of life in the region in a meaningful way, ”he said.
US President Joe Biden hosted the first quad level meeting of the quad grouping last Friday – the US, India, Australia and Japan. The group announced plans to produce and distribute 1 billion vaccines to address shortages in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
The official said that it was important for Beijing to hear directly from Mr. Blinken and Mr. Sullivan and sometimes “there is a hope in Beijing that our public message is different from the private message”.
“And we think it’s really important that we dispel that idea long ago, and we’re clear with privately delivering the same messages you’ve heard from us publicly,” he said. The US has said it will discuss a long list of concerns with China – including human rights abuses, Chinese aggression in the neighborhood, erosion of democratic norms in Hong Kong and Beijing’s predatory economic practices.
A meeting that included both the Secretary of State and the National Security Advisor is also expected to send a message to Beijing that different parts of the administration were singing from the same song sheet. The official said Beijing had a “track record of attempting to play favorites within one administration and in particular the Secretary of State and National Security Advisor to play each other.”
The official also said that the US and China will not have a joint statement after this week’s meetings and also that the US is not expecting “specific negotiable deliverables” from the talks.
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