China, US Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

 The US announced on Saturday that a delegation formed by senior officials on Asia-Pacific affairs will visit China soon, a move which Chinese analysts said shows that the US is seeking stabilization of ties with China more desperately. They urged that if Washington really wants to manage the competition and boost cooperation, it should keep its promises on sensitive topics like the Taiwan question and stop hostile containment approaches against China, otherwise the US will not get what it wants.

A high-level US delegation formed by officials including Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink and National Security Council Senior Director for China and the island of Taiwan Laura Rosenberger will travel to China, South Korea and Japan from December 11-14, the US State Department said on Saturday. 

During their trip to China, they will follow-up on the recent talk between the top leaders of the two countries on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia, and prepare for Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to China in early 2023, the US State Department said. 

Chinese experts said that from the meeting between the two presidents in Bali to the upcoming visit by senior US officials to China, it is clear that Washington is showing a more desperate attitude to stabilize bilateral ties, but that the country is also maintaining its hostile containment strategy against China in many fields, so it would be hard for the US to get what it wants from China on some issues that Washington cannot handle alone.

Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Sunday that “the US needs China’s cooperation or help on many issues. For instance, the US is really worried about the Russia-Ukraine conflict, as it wants to make sure China keeps neutral and won’t bring significant changes to the situation.”

“The US now finds it really hard for the country and its NATO allies to keep supplying Ukraine to maintain the conflict with Russia and weaken Moscow’s strength. If Russia gets concrete support from other major powers, the US’ attempt to use the Ukraine crisis to weaken Russia and undermine the economic basis of the EU would fail. So, the US really wants to make sure that China won’t change its neutral position,” Li noted.

Chinese analysts said China’s position on the Russia-Ukraine conflict is consistent and will not be impacted by the US, as China will always promote negotiations, but if the US keeps playing a negative role to add fuel to the flames, the situation in Ukraine can only worsen and Washington could also be damaged. 

On climate change, Li said that China has made its commitment and is taking actions to effectively reduce its carbon emissions, but the US only makes commitment in words and has failed to fulfil the promise by actions, and the elections within the US will add more uncertainties. “Therefore, China finds that the cooperation is not very effective even though the US has always asked for dialogue and cooperation on the issue,” Li said.  

Recently, the US has also authorized new arms sales to Taiwan to encourage the secessionist authorities on the island, despite US President Joe Biden making promises that the US “doesn’t support ‘Taiwan Independence,’” and this has brought condemnations and warnings from the Chinese mainland as well. 

Although the US has low credibility on many issues, China is still open to talks and keeps making efforts to manage the competition, so this has shown China’s consistent and responsible attitude to manage bilateral ties, and hopefully the US will not ignore China’s sincerity and will make joint efforts to bring ties back on track, and stay away from the dangerous bottom-line drawn by the Chinese side, said Chinese experts. 

The US announcement that it is sending a senior delegation to China follows comments by White House Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell that “China wants stabilized relations with the United States in the short term as it faces domestic economic challenges and pushback in Asia to its assertive diplomacy.”

Diao Daming, an expert on US studies and associate professor at the Renmin University of China in Beijing, told the Global Times on Sunday that China always wants to stabilize ties with the US, not just in the short term, and China consistently makes efforts to solve problems through talks, so it is irresponsible to misinterpret China’s sincerity. 

“More importantly, if China is the one that more desperately wants to stabilize bilateral ties, why didn’t China send delegates to the US first but the US is sending senior officials to China?” Diao said. 

According to the talks in Bali between the top leaders of the two sides, and some other signs reported by US media ahead of the talk, it has already proven that Biden is the one that asked for talks with the Chinese president more desperately. “So, if the US wants to stabilize ties, it should be more sincere and responsible to honestly express what they want instead of making other noises,” Diao noted.