Blinken Says US Has to Seek Peaceful Coexistence after Trip to China

BEIJING, June 30 (TiPost)— In the first instance, the United States has to “find a way to coexist and coexist peacefully” for the bottom line of American foreign policy toward China is that both countries are not going way, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international relations.

Credit：US Department of State

Blinken denies the saying that the U.S. is committed to decoupling from China. What the U.S. did is actually not to hold China down globally and economically, for that is not in U.S. interests, and it is hard for US to decouple from China as there are 48 million American companies registered there, Blinken responded to a question about the goal of U.S. policy toward technology externally, such as to artificial intelligence (AI).

“We don’t want to be the only engine for growth in the world. We want to see a China that’s actually succeeding economically.  It’s in our interest,” Blinken said. As to AI technology, Blinken noted the U.S. is very much engaged inf inding ways both collaboratively and voluntarily to de-risk, to focus on high-risk applications and to determine what the guardrails will be on that, and it has to be a broader conversation to get China involved in.

In the conversation, Blinken admitted major power competition was over and commerce ultimately trumped geopolitical competition in the global economy nowadays. But he stressed urgency of maintaining US’s leadership in a world, where there are countries that “are using predatory nonmarket practices to gain economic power and influence”. “We have to find ways to make sure that not only are we in the room, not only are we at the table, but hopefully we’re at the head of the table,” Blinken said, as he mentioned the challenge in tech industry.

When asked about a realistic goal for American foreign policy towards China, Blinken said the two economies has a long-term competition without a finish line, adding “we want to make sure that in that competition we’re in a position of strength” where the U.S. is able to shape what comes next.

Blinken’s remark came days after he commented his trip to China last week, which made him the highest ranking U.S. official as well as the top U.S. diplomat to visit China since October 2018 by his predecessor Mike Pompeo. The purpose of the visit is to try to bring a little bit more stability to the relationship and to be able to deal very directly with both countries’ differences, Blinken said in an interview with CNN. Blinken said there’s no secret about those differences, and the U.S. can work through them where we can, but at the very least avoid misunderstandings, avoid miscalculations. He felt the visit was positive, though reiterated in the conversation that the U.S. will continue to do things and to say things that China don’t like.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning later blasted Blinken over the comments he made abovementioned. The US pursues a misconceived China policy, seeks to block, contain and suppress China and has been attacking and smearing China’s image to interfere in China’s internal affairs, Mao said. She urged the U.S. stop making irresponsible comments and honor its commitments with concrete actions.

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