China accuses US of ‘imaginary enemy’ after talks on human rights and cyberattacks

Beijing — A top Chinese diplomat took a confrontational tone on Monday in rare high-level talks with the US, accusing it of creating an “imaginary enemy” to divert attention from domestic problems and suppress China.

Amid worsening relations between the world’s two largest economies, deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman, the second-ranking US diplomat, arrived on Sunday for face-to-face meetings in the northern city of Tianjin that the US state department described as “frank and open”.

No specific outcomes were agreed to and the prospect of a meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping was not discussed, senior US administration officials said after talks that lasted about four hours.

China seized the early narrative, with state media reporting on confrontational remarks by vice-foreign minister Xie Feng soon after the session began, in echoes of a similarly combative opening by senior Chinese officials during high-level talks in March in Alaska.

Foreign media were kept at a distance from the site of the talks, held outside Beijing due to Covid-19 protocols, but Chinese media were permitted on the premises.

“The US wants to reignite the sense of national purpose by establishing China as an ‘imaginary enemy’," Xie was quoted as saying while the talks were under way.

The US had mobilised its government and society to suppress China, he said.

“As if once China’s development is suppressed, US domestic and external problems will be resolved, and America will be great again, and America’s hegemony can be continued.”

Sherman laid out US concerns over China’s actions on issues ranging from Hong Kong and Xinjiang to Tibet and cyberattacks, senior administration officials said, adding that China should not approach areas of global concern, such as climate and Afghanistan, on a transactional basis.

Sherman, who also met state councillor and foreign minister Wang Yi, raised concerns including over what Washington sees as China’s unwillingness to co-operate with the World Health Organization on a second phase investigation of the origins of Covid-19, and foreign media access in China.

“The deputy secretary raised concerns in private — as we have in public — about a range of PRC [People’s Republic of China] actions that run counter to our values and interests and those of our allies and partners, and that undermine the international rules-based order,” the state department said in a statement.

“It is important for the US and China to discuss areas where we disagree so that we understand one another’s position, and so that we are clear about where each side is coming from,” a senior administration official said.

“Reaching agreement or specific outcomes was not the purpose of today’s conversations,” a senior US official said.

Sherman’s China visit was added late to an Asian itinerary that included stops in Japan, South Korea and Mongolia amid wrangling over protocol between Beijing and Washington.

On Saturday, Wang had warned that China would not accept the US taking a “superior” position in the relationship, a day after China unveiled sanctions on former US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross and others.

Relations between Beijing and Washington deteriorated sharply under former US president Donald Trump, and the Biden administration has maintained pressure on China in a stance that enjoys bipartisan support but threatens to deepen mistrust.

“When both countries see each other as an enemy, the danger is that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy,” said Cheng Xiaohe, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing.

Monday’s talks came amid frayed relations between Beijing and Washington that have worsened in the months since an initial diplomatic meeting in March in Anchorage, the first under the Biden administration.

At the Alaska meeting, Chinese officials, including Wang, railed against the state of US democracy, while US officials accused the Chinese side of grandstanding.

Reuters