US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday and said they agreed to stabilize seriously deteriorating US-China ties, but the top US diplomat left Beijing with his biggest request rejected: better communication between their armies.

After meeting with Xi, Blinken said China was not ready to resume military-to-military contacts, something the US deems crucial to avoid miscalculation and conflict, particularly over Taiwan.

But Blinken and Xi said they were pleased with the progress made during the two days of talks, without pointing to any specific points of agreement beyond a mutual decision to return to a broad agenda of cooperation and competition set out by Xi last year. and President Biden was endorsed at a Balinese summit.

And it remained unclear whether those agreements could resolve key disagreements between Beijing and Washington, many of which have international implications. Still, both men said they were pleased with the outcome of the highest US visit to China in five years.

The two sides expressed their willingness to hold more talks, but there was little evidence that either side is willing to deviate from positions on issues such as trade, Taiwan, the human rights situation in China and Hong Kong, China’s military assertiveness in the South China Sea and Russia. was in Ukraine.

Blinken later said the US set limited goals for the trip and achieved them. Before leaving for a conference on the reconstruction of Ukraine in London, he told reporters that he had repeatedly raised the issue of military-to-military communication.

After bitter warnings, the US and China are trying to reduce hostilities

It is absolutely essential that we have this kind of communication, he said. This is something we continue to work on.

The US has said China has refused or failed to respond to more than a dozen Defense Department requests for top-level dialogues since 2021.

According to a transcript of the meeting with Blinken, Xi said he was satisfied with the outcome of Blinken’s previous meetings with top Chinese diplomats and that restarting the Bali agenda was of great importance.

The Chinese side has made our position clear, and the two sides have agreed to live up to the common understandings that President Biden and I reached in Bali, Xi said.

The ‘no China’ policy: in the alternate universe of Taiwan’s West Wing-esque hit

That agenda had been jeopardized in recent months, particularly after the US shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon over its skies in February and amid escalating military activity in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea. Among other disputes over human rights, trade and opiate production, the list of problem areas is daunting.

But Xi suggested the worst may be over.

The two sides have also made progress and agreed on some specific issues, Xi said without going into further detail, according to a transcript of the remarks released by the State Department. This is very good.

In his remarks to Xi during the 35-minute session in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, a gathering that was expected but announced only an hour before the start, Blinken said the United States and China have a duty and responsibility to protect our relation.

As the US and China clash over Taiwan, Taiwanese Americans face an anxious new normal

The United States is determined to do just that, Blinken said. It is in the interest of the United States, in the interest of China and in the interest of the world.

Blinken described his previous conversations with senior Chinese officials as frank and constructive.

Despite the symbolism of his presence in China, Blinken and other US officials had downplayed the prospects of major breakthroughs on the most vexing issues facing the planet’s two largest economies.

Instead, these officials have stressed the importance of establishing and maintaining better lines of communication between the two countries.

China’s refusal to resume military-to-military contacts was thus a problem.

Progress is hard, Blinken told reporters. “It takes time; it takes more than one visit.

Blinken’s trip is expected to usher in another round of visits by senior US and Chinese officials to each other’s countries, possibly including a meeting between Xi and Biden in India or the US in the coming months.

Before meeting Xi, Blinken met with China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, for about three hours earlier Monday, a meeting that produced a harsh assessment of the talks.

Despite preparedness plans, China has doubts about its ability to invade Taiwan, CIA chief says

China’s foreign ministry said it was “necessary to make a choice between dialogue or confrontation, cooperation or conflict. It blamed the US for misperceiving China, leading to an incorrect policy towards China, for the current low point in relations.

And it said the US had a responsibility to halt the spiraling deterioration of China-US relations.” It added that Wang had “demanded that the US stop glorifying China’s threat theory, the lift illegal unilateral sanctions against China, stop suppressing China’s technological development”. and refrain from arbitrary interference in China’s internal affairs.

During the first round of talks on Sunday, Blinken had a nearly six-hour meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, after which both countries said they had agreed to continue high-level talks.

Both the US and China said Qin had accepted an invitation from Blinken to visit Washington, but Beijing made it clear that the relationship between China and the US is at its lowest point since its establishment. That sentiment is widely shared by US officials.

China on Taiwan: ‘External interference’ will not be tolerated

Blinken’s visit came after his initial plans to travel to China were postponed in February after a Chinese surveillance balloon was shot down over the United States.

United States

.

At his rallies, Blinken also urged the Chinese to release detained US citizens and take steps to curb the production and export of fentanyl precursors, which are fueling the United States’ opioid crisis.

Since the cancellation of Blinken’s trip in February, there have been some high-level appointments. CIA Chief William Burns traveled to China in May, while China’s Commerce Secretary to the US

United States

. And Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Wang, China’s top diplomat, in Vienna in May.