Secretary of State Anthony Blinken spoke by phone today with Politburo member and top diplomat Yang Jiechi. Yang urged that both sides should work to get the relationship back on track. He underlined the importance of the one-China principle and said that the U.S. side should “exercise prudence” in dealing with the Taiwan issue. He also criticized the reemergence of the “lab theory” and urged the U.S. sides to “accept facts” and to focus instead on cooperation in overcoming the COVID pandemic. Declaring that dialogue and cooperation should be the mainstay of China-U.S. relations, Yang said cooperation must be mutually beneficial, and address each other’s concerns in a balanced manner. The Chinese side is committed to working with the United States to achieve a relationship of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, and will staunchly safeguard its sovereignty, security and development interests at the same time, Yang said.
The State Department readout said that Blinken urged cooperation and “transparency” with regard to the origins of the virus and called for a “WHO Phase-2 expert-led studies” in China. This is clearly quite different from the 90-day U.S. intelligence agency “investigation” of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, in which the IC has no intention of working with the WHO or the Chinese. The Yang and Blinken also discussed the D.P.R.K. policy review, which the White House is conducting, focussed on the need for both U.S. and China to work toward a denuclearized Korean Peninsula. The two also discussed Myanmar, Iran and the climate crisis.
