Blinken warns China over dual-use sales to Russia, but also praises US-China progress

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged China on Friday to curb the flow to Russia of Chinese dual-use equipment critical to Moscow’s war efforts in Ukraine – or face fresh sanctions.

“Russia would struggle to sustain its assault on Ukraine without China’s support,” Mr. Blinken said at a press conference following his meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and other top officials. China is Russia’s top supplier of machine tools, microelectronics, and nitrocellulose – a highly flammable compound used to make munitions – and Mr. Blinken noted that the U.S. has already sanctioned more than 100 Chinese enterprises. “I made it clear that if China does not address this problem, we will,” he said.

Mr. Blinken’s three days of high-level meetings in Beijing and Shanghai underscored how the United States and China are rolling up their sleeves and digging into some major, divisive issues. The last time Mr. Blinken visited China’s capital – 10 months ago – Beijing and Washington were barely on speaking terms, with military-to-military dialogues and other vital contacts suspended.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Mr. Xi stabilized the relationship and reopened more than 20 key lines of communication when they met outside San Francisco last November – unleashing new progress but also tough talks over pressing conflicts.

The two sides have since made important headway in key areas ranging from counternarcotics to multilevel military communications and talks on artificial intelligence, Mr. Blinken said. He highlighted China’s recent actions to curtail the flow to the U.S. of precursor chemicals used to make the drug fentanyl, which has become a leading cause of death among American adults. China has cracked down on some companies, and is providing information to help international law enforcement track and intercept the drugs, he said.

Mr. Blinken announced that Beijing and Washington reached an agreement Friday to hold their first talks on managing the risks of advanced AI, and military talks have resumed.

Yet China and the U.S. have vast differences, starting at the top with how each side characterizes the relationship. Washington believes the two countries can compete and cooperate at the same time. For Beijing, Washington can be either a partner or a rival – but not both.

China’s development rights

China’s top priority for Mr. Blinken’s visit was to “establish a correct understanding” of their current relationship status, according to a senior Foreign Ministry official quoted in a statement.

Mr. Xi emphasized this when he met with Mr. Blinken on Friday at the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing.

“China and the United States should be partners rather than rivals,” Mr. Xi said. “The two countries should help each other succeed ... rather than engage in vicious competition.”

Trade, technology, and economic issues between Beijing and Washington are increasingly major challenges for both sides but especially for Mr. Xi, as China’s economic growth has slowed and the U.S. has stepped up sanctions. Beijing charges that the U.S. seeks to contain China and curb its rise.

When raising this issue on Friday, Mr. Xi struck a conciliatory tone. “China is happy to see the confident, open, prosperous, and thriving United States. We hope the U.S. can also look at China’s development in a positive light,” he told Mr. Blinken. “This is a fundamental issue that must be addressed, just like the first button of a shirt that must be put right in order for the China-U.S. relationship to truly stabilize, improve, and move forward.”

China’s foreign minister, Mr. Wang, also highlighted Beijing’s concern about U.S. economic pressure, telling Mr. Blinken that “China’s legitimate development rights have been unreasonably suppressed.”

Protecting the market

For his part, Mr. Blinken stressed that the U.S. does not seek to hold back China’s development or decouple the two economies, telling reporters at the U.S. Embassy press conference that this would be “disastrous.”

Yet he said China’s government subsidies for leading 21st-century industries are distorting the market. He joined a chorus of senior U.S. officials, including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, in charging that China is using unfair trade practices and subsidizing surplus production in key industries such as solar panels, electric vehicles, and batteries.

“China alone is producing more than 100% of global demand for these products – flooding markets, undermining competition, putting at risk livelihoods and businesses around the world,” Mr. Blinken said.

Overall, he added, “China is responsible for one-third of global production – but one-tenth of global demand. ... There’s a clear mismatch.”

Beijing has rejected “the so-called ‘China’s overcapacity theory,’” calling it a “false narrative,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry official was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua News Agency. “It is naked economic coercion and bullying.”

Given domestic political priorities in both countries – with Mr. Biden facing the November presidential election and Mr. Xi seeking to revive China’s sluggish economy – such frictions are unlikely to be resolved easily, experts say.

Nevertheless, these are also reasons Beijing and Washington both seek – at a minimum – to try to maintain stability in their relationship. “If Biden is reelected ... [and] no major accidents occur, the current trend of stable and improving U.S.-China ties will probably continue,” said Jia Qingguo, director of Peking University’s Institute for Global Cooperation and Understanding, in an interview published by the blog Sinification.