Biden stresses trust in relations with Beijing
Print Edition
US Vice President Joe Biden, visiting China amid tensions over the nation’s newly established air defense zone in the East China Sea, said yesterday that relations between Washington and Beijing had to be based on trust.
Beijing’s decision to declare an air defense identification zone that includes the Diaoyu Islands at the center of territorial disputes between China and Japan dominated Biden’s talks in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Biden pledged in Tokyo to raise those concerns “with great specificity” with President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders, adding that China’s move was deeply concerning.
“This action has raised regional tensions and increased the risk of accidents and miscalculation,” Biden said on Tuesday after his meeting with Japanese President Shinzo Abe.
Emerging from a private meeting with Xi that went considerably longer than scheduled, Biden appeared somber and subdued. In a brief appearance before reporters in which he took no questions, Biden did not go into details on differences over the zone.
Instead, he spoke of a “new model of major country cooperation,” saying US-China relations must hinge on trust and a positive notion of each other’s motives.
Biden said the relationship between the two major powers will significantly affect the course of the 21st century.
If the US and China can get that relationship right, the possibilities are limitless, he said,.
Biden said he came to Beijing because complex relationships require sustained engagement at high levels.
He said he believed Xi was a candid and constructive person. “In developing this new relationship, both qualities are sorely needed,” Biden said. “Candor generates trust. Trust is the basis on which real change, constructive change, is made.”
Xi said the international situation and regional landscape were “undergoing profound and complex changes.”
“Regional issues keep cropping up and there are more pronounced global challenges such as climate change and energy security. The world is not tranquil.”
Neither Xi nor Biden made any mention of the air defense zone in remarks before reporters.
Under the zone’s rules, all aircraft have to report flight plans to Chinese authorities, maintain radio contact and reply promptly to identification inquiries.
US, Japanese and South Korean military aircraft have all breached the zone without informing Beijing since it was announced on November 23.
Japanese and South Korean commercial carriers have also been told by their governments to ignore the rules. Three US airlines, acting on government advice, are notifying China of plans to transit the zone.
China has said the zone was designed to reduce the risk of misunderstandings and stressed that there had been no issues with freedom of flight for civilian airlines.
Also yesterday, Japan launched a US-style National Security Council, under which cabinet ministers discussed the air defense zone and other security challenges.
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