US-China Foreign Ministers meet face-to-face in Bali, want relations 'on the right track'

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia on July 9. Photo: Reuters

US officials said the meeting between Mr. Blinken and Mr. Wang in Bali, Indonesia, included morning talks followed by a working lunch, aimed at keeping the difficult US relationship with China stable and preventing an inadvertent drift into conflict.

At the beginning of the meeting, Secretary of State Blinken told the press: “There is no substitute for face-to-face diplomacy, and in a relationship as complex and consequential as the one between the United States and China, there is much to discuss. We look forward to a productive and constructive conversation.”

Mr. Blinken is expected to reiterate warnings to China not to support the war in Ukraine and the two sides will address contentious issues including Taiwan, China's illegal claims in the South China Sea, its expanding influence in the Pacific, human rights and trade tariffs.

However, both sides have a common interest in maintaining a stable relationship, and Mr. Blinken and U.S. officials say President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to speak again in the coming weeks, which is likely to be discussed at the July 9 meeting.

“China and the United States are two big countries, so it is necessary for the two countries to maintain normal exchanges. At the same time, we really need to communicate together to ensure that this relationship continues to progress in the right direction,” Mr. Wang Yi told reporters.

Daniel Russel, a former senior US diplomat in charge of East Asia under former President Barack Obama who has been in close contact with officials in the Biden administration, said he believed the main goal of the July 9 meeting was to explore the possibility of holding the first face-to-face meeting between Mr. Biden and Mr. Xi as heads of state — possibly on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali in November.

Calling China a major strategic rival, US State Department official Daniel Kritenbrink said on July 5 that he expected to have a “frank” conversation with Wang Yi and asserted that it would be another opportunity “to convey our expectations of what we expect China to do and not do in the context of the situation in Ukraine.”

Despite their strategic rivalry, the world's two largest economies remain major trading partners, and Mr. Biden is considering lifting tariffs on a range of Chinese goods to curb rising inflation in the United States ahead of midterm elections in November.