Washington urged to use actions to win trust of Chinese people, intl community

The virtual meeting between President Xi Jinping and United States President Joe Biden has charted the direction of and injected fresh impetus into the growth of bilateral ties, officials and experts said on Tuesday.

Xie Feng, vice-minister of foreign affairs, said at a news briefing that the bilateral meeting was "candid, in-depth, constructive and fruitful".

"If China-US relations cannot return to the past, then we should face the future. China is without any illusions, but the nation remains confident and will maintain its strategic orientation," he said.

Xie added that China will remain open to options that will benefit bilateral relations, and Beijing is open to dialogue between the two heads of state in various forms, including face-to-face meetings.

The two leaders reached a key principled consensus－the extreme importance of bilateral relations, he said.

The other principled consensus from the summit, Xie said, is that both sides are opposed to a "new Cold War".

He said that other nations, including allies of the US, are also unwilling to retake the old path of the Cold War and be forced to take sides between the world's largest and second-largest economies.

Another key topic during the meeting was the Taiwan question, the most important and sensitive issue in bilateral relations.

Xie said the Chinese public deplores the recent erroneous remarks and practices by the US on the Taiwan question as well as its attempts to confuse the one-China policy.

He urged the US to respect the fact that an overwhelming majority of nations in the world adhere to the one-China principle and to use actions to win the trust of the Chinese people and the international community.

With regard to managing differences between the two sides, Xie highlighted the need for the two countries to be even more determined to prevent a possible crisis and to eliminate the source of crisis.

"It is equally important to put out a fire and to prevent a fire. We need to take the initiative to remove the 'flammables'," he said.

The senior diplomat said China opposes intervention in the affairs of other nations on the grounds of human rights issues.

China has always called for peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom, which are common values of humanity, and stands ready to have talks on human rights issues on the basis of mutual respect, he said.

There is no room for China to concede over issues concerning Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet, as well as regarding maritime issues, all of which involve China's sovereignty, territorial integrity and core interests, Xie said, urging the US to respect China's interests and concerns.

The significance of the virtual summit was also hailed by global analysts.

Lucio Blanco Pitlo III, research fellow at the Manila-based foreign policy think tank Asia Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation Inc, welcomed the virtual summit, saying it was a "good signal for the world that the two major powers are finding ways to engage in high-level dialogue".

The summit would put some guardrails or offramps in place to try to manage strategic competition, he said, as both sides "understand the risk of conflict, so they would try to mitigate the chances of miscalculation".

Koh King Kee, president of the Centre for New Inclusive Asia, a think tank based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, said the key message from both leaders is that both sides are sincere about reducing tension and improving their relationship.

"Sound China-US ties are important not only to both countries, but also the people of the world," Koh said, adding that China's agreement to cooperate with the US on climate issues shows its sincerity in improving bilateral relations.

Prime Sarmiento and Yang Han in Hong Kong contributed to this story.