Speaking on the sidelines of the 60th Munich Security Conference, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to lift sanctions that Washington is imposing on many Beijing businesses.
This is the latest meeting in a series of high-level negotiations since US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met last November on the sidelines of the 2023 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in San Francisco, California (USA).
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (left) and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met at the 60th Munich Security Conference on February 16. (Photo: AFP)
The United States and China ended 2023 with an agreement to ease diplomatic tensions following an incident in which Beijing sent a spy balloon over U.S. territory, along with Washington's technology sanctions aimed at limiting China's access to advanced chipmaking equipment and artificial intelligence processors.
However, military competition between the US and China in the Asia-Pacific shows no signs of cooling down.
Wang Yi said that the US's pursuit of "isolating China" will ultimately backfire on the US, calling on Washington to lift "illegal unilateral sanctions" on Chinese companies and individuals and not undermine China's legitimate development rights.
Most of the recent sanctions against China were imposed in 2018, when the Trump administration banned US agencies from using equipment and services from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei over concerns the company was facilitating espionage.
Tensions escalated further in October 2022, when the Biden administration announced new limits on semiconductor technology sales to China, a step aimed at blocking Beijing's access to critical technologies.
During talks with his Chinese counterpart on February 16, Secretary of State Blinken also raised concerns about China’s alleged support for Russia’s military-industrial base. In 2022, the US imposed sanctions on several companies in China for what Washington said was aid provided to the Russian military amid the Ukraine conflict.
China has repeatedly denied the US accusations and affirmed that it does not sell weapons to Russia.
Since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine broke out in February 2022, China has repeatedly called for a peaceful resolution to the crisis. Beijing has also bowed to Western pressure to join sanctions against Moscow while promoting economic cooperation with Russia.
Chinese customs data shows that trade between the two countries increased 26.6% last year to a record $240 billion.
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