Chinese foreign minister meets US ambassador, days after ignoring calls from US

The US-Sino relationship got strained after a suspected Chinese spy balloon was spotted over the US in February

After days of ignoring phone calls from the Biden Administration, Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang met US ambassador to China, Nick Burns, in Beijing on May 8, 2023. Their meeting led to speculation that it will lead to a thaw in their frosty relations and lead to a resumption of dialogue between the two countries.

The foreign minister said it is imperative to stabilise Sino-US relations after a series of "erroneous words and deeds" put ties into a deep freeze. At his meeting with Burns in Beijing, Qin stressed that the US must correct its handling of the Taiwan issue and stop hollowing out the ‘One-China’ principle.

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Spy balloon, Taiwan issues

The relationship between the world's two biggest economies got strained after a suspected Chinese spy balloon was spotted over the US in February 2023. The incident led the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to call off his visit to China that month.

Sino-American ties got further strained in recent weeks after US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen in April.

A protesting China held a series of coercive military drills around Taiwan, which were subsequently matched by the US and Philippines hosting their largest military exercises in the South and East China Seas, raising serious tensions in the Indo-Pacific.

Last week, Blinken said he hoped to make a trip to China sometime in 2023 and stressed the need to "re-establish regular lines of communication at all levels and across our government."

“We're in a competition with China; there's no secret about that. But we have a strong interest in trying to make sure that that competition doesn't veer into conflict,” he said. He was speaking at an event hosted by The Washington Post.

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Pelosi visit to Taiwan

Relations between China and the US sank to a low last year when the then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi paid an official visit to democratically governed Taiwan, angering China, which claims the island as its territory. In response, Beijing severed formal communications channels with the US, including the one between their militaries.

Tension eases

Tension between the two countries eased in November 2022 when US and Chinese leaders Joe Biden and Xi Jinping met at a G-20 summit in Indonesia and pledged more frequent dialogue.

On May 8, Qin told Burns: “A series of erroneous words and deeds by the US since then have undermined the hard-won positive momentum of Sino-US relations.”

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According to a statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Qin said: “The agenda of dialogue and cooperation by the two sides has been disrupted, and the relationship between the two countries has once again encountered cold ice.”

Last week, US climate envoy John Kerry said China had invited him to visit "in the near term" for talks on averting a global climate crisis, further raising hope of resetting one of the world's most important state-to-state relationships.

"The top priority is to stabilise Sino-US relations, avoid a downward spiral and prevent any accident between China and the US," Qin said.

Taiwan remains the thorniest issue in Sino-US ties.

Since 1979, US-Taiwan relationship has been governed by the Taiwan Relations Act, which gives a legal basis to provide Taiwan the means to defend itself, but does not mandate that the US come to Taiwan's aid, if attacked.

However, in the 2023 budget, the US Congress has authorised weapons aid of up to $1 billion for Taiwan, using a type of authority that expedites security assistance.

G7, Quad summits upcoming

Interestingly, the fast-paced developments in Sino-US relations over the past two weeks come days before the Group of Seven summit in Japan in May 2023. It will be followed within days by a summit of the Quad countries in Australia.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to be present at both the summits.

Though the ongoing Ukraine war and the Russian offence will be a backdrop in which the G7 summit in Japan is being held, the focus of the discussion will also be on the assertive rise of China and its impact on the countries in the Indo-Pacific.

Key European countries like France and Germany have already tried to distance themselves from the Taiwan issue and the arms build-up between China and the US saying Taiwan was not Europe’s war. Therefore, it will be interesting to see what statement the G7 countries will come out with on China.

An addition to that has now been the attempted rapprochement between Washington and Beijing.

What signal the G7 countries, a grouping of the world’s most developed economies, come out with about the Indo-Pacific and China’s growing dominance in the region, will be keenly followed by the Asian countries, particularly those that are involved in territorial disputes with China.