US-China Foreign Ministers Meet Face-to-Face in Bali, Want Relations to 'Go in the Right Direction'

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with 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, which included morning talks followed by a working lunch, was aimed at keeping the difficult US relationship with China stable and preventing it from accidentally veering into conflict.

“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,” Secretary Blinken told reporters at the start of the meeting. “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, expanding influence in the Pacific, human rights and trade tariffs.

But both sides have a shared interest in maintaining a stable relationship, and Blinken and other US officials said President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to speak again in the coming weeks, something the July 9 meeting could address.

“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,” 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.

The US calls China its main strategic rival, and US diplomat in charge of East Asia Daniel Kritenbrink said on July 5 that he expected to have a “frank” exchange with Mr. Wang and affirmed that it would be another opportunity “to convey our expectations about 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 US ahead of midterm elections in November.