Kerry told differences with China can be managed
Print Edition
CHINA’S relationship with the United States is “stable” despite tensions in the South China Sea, President Xi Jinping told top American diplomat John Kerry yesterday, adding that the Pacific Ocean is “vast enough” for both powers.
Xi met Kerry in Beijing as tensions between the world’s two biggest economies mount over Chinese island-building in the South China Sea.
The US is weighing sending warships and surveillance aircraft within 12 nautical miles — the normal territorial zone around natural land — of artificial islands that China is building in the sea.
Such a deployment could lead to a standoff on the high seas in an area home to vital global shipping lanes. But Xi told Kerry that, “in my view,” relations between the two countries “have remained stable on the whole,” according to Xinhua news agency.
“The broad Pacific Ocean is vast enough to embrace both China and the United States,” Xi said.
He called for the two sides to handle disputes “in an appropriate way so that the general direction of the bilateral relationship will not be affected.”
He added: “The new type of China-US relationship has witnessed an early harvest.”
He hoped that the two sides would work together to enhance mutual trust, reduce doubt, and boost cooperation through more dialogues, to ensure that the bilateral ties would consistently grow along the right track of the new type of major-country relationship.
Xinhua said Kerry, who arrived in China on Saturday, echoed Xi’s evaluation of bilateral ties before the two met for talks behind closed doors.
It also proved that the two sides were able to manage their disputes in a matured manner, said the US official.
Chinese leaders were defiant during their talks with Kerry on Saturday, with Foreign Minister Wang Yi telling the US official that China was “unshakeable” in the defense of its sovereignty.
Kerry appeared less assertive in public, saying at a press conference on Saturday that Washington was “concerned about the pace and scope of China’s land reclamation.”
He urged China to “take actions that will join with everyone to reduce tensions.”
The goal is to help “reduce tensions and increase the prospect of diplomatic solutions,” Kerry told reporters at a news conference with Wang.
Wang indicated that while China was prepared to talk, it would not back down on the construction that, he said, “is something that falls fully within the scope of China’s sovereignty.”
“The determination of the Chinese side to safeguard our own sovereignty and territorial integrity is as firm as a rock, and it is unshakable,” he said.
“It has always been our view that we need to find appropriate solutions to the issues we have through communications and negotiations that we have among the parties directly concerned with peaceful and diplomatic means on the basis of respecting historical facts and international norms. This position will remain unchanged in the future.”
Wang said differences between China and the US could be managed “as long as we can avoid misunderstanding and, even more importantly, avoid miscalculation.”
Despite clear disagreements over the South China Sea, Kerry and Wang said they were on track to make progress in other areas, notably on climate change, the fight against violent extremism, and preparations for the next round of the China -US Strategic and Economic Dialogue in June and Xi’s visit to Washington in September.
They expressed pleasure with their cooperation in the Iran nuclear talks, in trying to denuclearize North Korea and in combating diseases such as the deadly Ebola virus.
Xi is due to pay a state visit to the US in September, and Xinhua said he looked forward to discussing bilateral ties with US President Barack Obama in a “candid and in-depth way.”
Kerry said Obama looks forward to continuing to exchange views with Xi on issues of common concern during his state visit to the US, which the secretary of state said will be an important event for bilateral ties.
Kerry flew to Seoul in South Korea later yesterday.
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