The summit on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum follows a six-month US push to engage its geopolitical rival, including through several unreciprocated cabinet-level visits, and recover from a diplomatic crisis over the US downing of an alleged Chinese spy balloon in February.
Speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore, Chinese Vice President Han Zheng said the recent high-level meetings between Beijing and Washington were sending “positive signals” that relations were improving.
“We’re ready to strengthen communication and dialogue with the United States at all levels, advance mutually beneficial cooperation, properly manage differences and jointly address global challenges,” Han said.
Relations between Washington and Beijing sunk to some of their deepest lows in recent years over a host of issues including export controls, human rights and national security. But both sides appear willing to patch things up, with Washington sending a number of top officials to Beijing this year in a bid to reestablish high-level dialogue.
US President Biden has said he expects to meet Chinese leader Xi on the sidelines of a summit in San Francisco next week for “constructive” talks.
Asked to confirm whether the summit would go ahead, China’s foreign ministry on Wednesday reiterated that the two sides had agreed to meet. “At the same time, the road to San Francisco is not smooth, and we cannot be on autopilot,” ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a regular briefing.
“Both sides must… truly implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state, eliminate interference and overcome obstacles, enhance consensus and accumulate results,” he said, alluding to a last year meeting between Xi and Biden in Indonesia.
Han on Wednesday reiterated Xi’s opinion that the question of US-China ties “bears on the future of humanity”.
“The world is big enough for the two countries to develop themselves and prosper together,” he said.
While US officials said there was “agreement in principle” for Xi and Biden to meet in San Francisco, Beijing has yet to confirm Xi will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), scheduled to be held from Nov 15 to 17.
APEC is a group of 21-member economies that accounts for about 62 per cent of global GDP and almost half of global trade, but it has increasingly become a stage for strategic competition between the US and China.
“This is going to overshadow anything that happens at APEC,” said Oriana Skylar Mastro, a Stanford University China expert.
While Biden administration officials say announcing a slate of meeting outcomes is an outdated way to measure progress in relations with China, experts have pointed to possible signals of improvement such as increasing commercial flights between the countries.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Monday that China-US ties would impact the “destiny of mankind”, as he met with a group of American senators in Beijing.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is the latest high-level US official to go to China as Washington seeks to ease tensions with Beijing, leading a six-person delegation.
“How China and the United States get along with each other in the face of a world of change and turmoil will determine the future and destiny of mankind,” Xi said as he met with Schumer at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.
“I have said many times, including to several presidents, that we have 1,000 reasons to improve China-US relations, but not one reason to ruin them,” Xi said, adding China-US ties are “the most important bilateral relationship in the world”.
Chinese diplomat hopes Washington and Beijing could manage their differences ‘more rationally’
Schumer, in turn, told Xi that “our countries, together, will shape this century”. “That is why we must manage our relationship responsibly and respectfully,” he said.
Schumer later told reporters the meeting with Xi lasted 80 minutes, double the allotted time.
Earlier China’s top diplomat Wang Yi said he hoped Washington and Beijing could manage their differences “more rationally”.
Meeting with Schumer at Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, Foreign Minister Wang told the senate delegation he hoped their visit would help the two sides “manage existing differences more rationally, helping the relationship between the two countries return to the track of healthy development”.
Wang also said he hoped they would “more accurately understand China” after the trip, which he said comes as the world is in a “turbulent period of change”.
“The crisis in Ukraine has not yet subsided, and warfare has re-emerged in the Middle East,” he said.
“All these various challenges need to be addressed by the international community, and China and the United States should play their due roles,” Wang said.
Schumer, in turn, thanked the Chinese delegation for their hospitality, noting there were several issues of “great concern” he was seeking to raise during his visit. He said “a level playing field for American business and workers” was his delegation’s “number one goal”.
“Holding accountable China-based companies supplying deadly chemicals fuelling the fentanyl crisis in America” was another objective, he told Wang, as was “ensuring China does not support Russia’s immoral war against Ukraine”. “Advancing human rights” was an additional priority, Schumer said.
Nicholas Burns, the US ambassador to China, described the meetings as a “step forward”.
“I felt that the Chinese leadership prepared very carefully for these meetings. They were ready for these detailed discussions. There was a level of energy on both sides, and I think a commitment to extend those conversations,” he said at a press conference.