Secretary Antony J. Blinken And People’s Republic of China Director of the Chinese Communist Party Central Foreign Affairs Commission and Foreign Minister Wang Yi Before Their Meeting

FOREIGN MINISTER WANG: (Via interpreter) Mr. Secretary of State, welcome back to China after ten months. In the past period of time, the China-U.S. relationship has gone through ups and downs and twists and turns. After the guidance and leadership of our two presidents, the giant ship of this relationship has weathered winds and rains and overcome dangerous shoals. We managed to return to Bali, arrive at San Francisco, and then embark on a new journey from San Francisco.

Overall, the China-U.S. relationship is beginning to stabilize. Across the areas our two sides have increased dialogue, cooperation, and the positive side of the relationship. This is welcomed by our two peoples and the international community. But at the same time, the negative factors in the relationship is 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.

Should China and the United States keep to the right direction of moving forward with stability or return to a downward spiral? This is a major question before our two countries and tests our sincerity and ability. Should our two sides lead international cooperation against global issues and achieve win-win for all, or engage in rivalry and confrontation or even slide into conflict, which would be a lose-lose for all? The international community is waiting for our answer.

China’s attitude is consistent; we always bear in mind the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind and view and develop China-U.S. relationship from this global perspective. We have always acted with a sense of responsibility to the people, to the world and to the future.

China’s position has been consistent. We always follow the principles laid forth by President Xi Jinping, which is mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation, and are committed to a stable, healthy, and sustainable China-U.S. relationship.

China’s concerns are consistent. We always called for respecting each other’s core interests and urge the United States not to interfere in China’s internal affairs, not to hold China’s development back, and not to step on China’s red lines on China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests.

Your visit this time is part of the efforts to implement our presidents’ common understandings on maintaining communication, managing differences, advancing cooperation, and strengthening coordination on international affairs. I look forward to an in-depth exchange of views with you today. Thank you.

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Mr. Director, thank you for receiving us today and for hosting us here in Beijing.  It’s good to be back.

We had a good visit to Shanghai just yesterday – good, candid conversations with Party Secretary Chen, with Chinese and American students who are working and learning together, with our business community that is so active here in China.

But in Beijing, the President asked me to travel back to work on moving forward on the agreements that our two presidents reached in San Francisco at the end of last year:  resuming cooperation on counternarcotics; restarting our military-to-military conversations; looking together at the future of artificial intelligence – its risks and safety issues; and trying to strengthen our people-to-people connections; but also, critically, managing responsibly our differences.

Moving forward on the agenda that our presidents set requires active diplomacy, and there is no substitute, in our judgment, for face-to-face diplomacy in order to try to move forward, but also to make sure that we’re as clear as possible about the areas where we have differences, at the very least to avoid misunderstandings, to avoid miscalculations.  That really is a shared responsibility that we have not only for our own people but for people around the world given the impact that the relationship between our countries has around the world.

I look forward in these discussions to being very clear, very direct about the areas where we have differences and where the United States stands, and I have no doubt you will do the same on behalf on China.  But I underscore again it’s important that we do that – important to demonstrate that we’re managing responsibly the most consequential relationship, I think for both of us, in the world.  I hope we can make some progress on the issues that our presidents agreed we should cooperate on, but also clarify our differences, our intent, and make very clear to each other where we stand.

So again, thank you for having us here today.  I look forward to a very good discussion, as always.