Xi tells Blinken US, China must be 'partners, not rivals'

President Xi Jinping has said that China and the United States should be partners rather than rivals; help each other succeed rather than hurt each other; seek common ground and reserve differences, rather than engaging in vicious competition; and honour words with actions, rather than saying one thing but doing the opposite.

“I proposed mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation to be the three overarching principles. They are both lessons learned from the past and a guide for the future,” Xi told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a meeting in the Chinese capital on Friday.

China is happy to see a confident, open, prosperous and thriving United States, and hopes the United States can also look at China's development in a positive light, the Chinese leader said.

“This is a fundamental issue that must be addressed, just like the first button of a shirt that must be put right, in order for the China-US relationship to truly stabilise, improve and move forward,” he added.

Noting that this year marks the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, Xi said over the past 45 years, the relationship has gone through winds and rains, and it has a number of important inspirations to offer.

At present, transformation not seen in a century is unfolding in a profound way, and the international situation is fluid and turbulent. It is the shared desire of both the two peoples and the international community to see China and the United States strengthen dialogue, manage differences and advance cooperation, President Xi said.

"I've said many times that the planet is big enough to accommodate the common development and respective prosperity of China and the United States," Xi said.

President Xi recalled his meeting with American counterpart Joe Biden in San Francisco last year, when they launched the San Francisco vision that is future-oriented. In the last couple of months, the two teams have acted on the common understandings of the two heads of state, maintained communication in various areas, and made some good progress.

“But there are still issues to be addressed which require further efforts. Your visit this time was agreed upon between President Biden and I in our phone call several weeks ago. I hope you will find it productive,” he added.

Secretary Antony Blinken also met with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi for several hours in closed-door meetings at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse where the two tried to maintain progress in ties despite a broad and complex agenda.

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As they settled into their opening session, Wang told Blinken that the "giant ship" of the China-US relationship had stabilised, "but negative factors in the relationship are still increasing and building".

"And the relationship is facing all kinds of disruptions. China's legitimate development rights have been unreasonably suppressed and our core interests are facing challenges," he said.

Blinken replied that "active diplomacy" was needed to move forward with the agenda set by President Biden and President Xi when they met in San Francisco in November.

"There's no substitute in our judgement for face-to-face diplomacy," Blinken said, adding that he wanted to ensure that "we're as clear as possible about the areas where we have differences, at the very least to avoid misunderstandings, to avoid miscalculations".

Blinken and Wang met in a guesthouse which is part of a sprawling complex of villas, lakes and gardens where many foreign dignitaries, including the then-US President Richard Nixon, have been received.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said that China's attitude has always been consistent. China views and develops China-US relations from the world vision of building a community with a shared future for humanity.

China adheres to the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation, and commits to promoting the stable, healthy, and sustainable development of China-US relations.

US State Department officials signalled ahead of the sessions that China’s support for Russia would feature strongly, saying that Washington is prepared to act against Chinese companies that have been helping retool and resupply Russia's defence industry.

They have said that such assistance risks hurting the broader China-US relationship, even as ties stabilise after being hit by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan in 2022 and the US downing of a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon in February 2023.

Despite increasing high-level exchanges and working groups tackling issues such as enhanced military communication and global trade, stark differences remain.

Todd Robinson, Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, and Nathaniel Fick, ambassador-at-large for cyberspace, are among the officials and envoys accompanying Blinken.

Wang laid out China's position, saying the US must not step on "red lines" covering sovereignty, security and development interests - an apparent reference to Taiwan, the democratically-governed island that China claims as its own, and the disputed South China Sea.

Wang said China urges the US side not to interfere in China's internal affairs, suppress China's development, or cross China’s red lines when it comes to China's sovereignty, security, and development interests.

Ahead of the talks, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also signalled that the Biden administration was not taking any options off the table to respond to China's excess industrial capacity.