Xi tells Blinken US and China ‘should be partners and not rivals’ as Beijing sets out red lines

Chinese president Xi Jinping told US secretary of state Antony Blinken that their countries “should be partners and not rivals” shortly after Beijing warned Washington against crossing its red lines in high-stakes meetings aimed at stabilising relations between the world’s two largest economies.

Mr Xi met Mr Blinken before the American diplomat concluded his three-day visit to Beijing on Friday, an unexpected direct meeting with the Communist Party leader signifying an effort to ease emerging flashpoints.

“I have said many times that the earth is big enough for China and the US to develop and prosper respectively,” Mr Xi said.

The talks were being closely watched by allies and adversaries of both countries, including Russia and Taiwan.

Russian president Vladimir Putin announced his own potential visit to China next month to strengthen their “no limits” partnership, which is one of the points of contention between Beijing and Washington.

Mr Blinken had earlier met Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi for over five hours behind closed doors to discuss the most contentious issues on the table, including American aid to Taiwan and China’s support for the Russian defence industry.

Mr Wang opened the meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse by posing a question with undertones of a warning. "Should China and the United States keep in the right direction of moving forward with stability or return to a downward spiral?" he asked.

Mr Wang warned the US against pushing boundaries lest the stability of their relations go into a “downward spiral” and lead to rivalry, confrontation and even conflict.

Mr Wang told Mr Blinken that the "giant ship" of the China-US relationship had stabilised "but negative factors in the relationship are still increasing and building".

"And the relationship is facing all kinds of disruptions. China’s legitimate development rights have been unreasonably suppressed and our core interests are facing challenges," he said.

He warned the US against using Taiwan as a tool to contain China and arming Taipei.

Mr Blinken, who is on his second visit to China in a year, replied in a cautious tone and said "active diplomacy" was needed to move forward with the agenda set by US president Joe Biden and Mr Xi when they met in San Francisco last November.

“There is no substitute in our judgement for face-to-face diplomacy in order to try to move forward, but also to make sure we’re as clear as possible about the areas where we have differences at the very least to avoid misunderstandings, to avoid miscalculations,” he said.

Highlighting the increasing tension between the two countries, just hours before Mr Blinken’s arrival in China on Wednesday, Mr Biden signed a bipartisan bill allocating $8bn to counter China’s military capabilities, along with substantial defence assistance for Taiwan and $61bn for Ukraine.

Mr Biden also signed into law a bill that would ban TikTok in the US within a year unless its Chinese owner, ByteDance, agreed to sell it.

The US is angry with China for helping Russia’s defence industry through exports, despite western sanctions against Moscow.

Mr Blinken raised concerns about China’s “support to the Russian defence industrial base”, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, adding the two sides also discussed Taiwan, the South China Sea and other flashpoints.

Mr Xi met with Mr Blinken after a last-minute confirmation. The Chinese president said the two sides have made “positive progress” in past months, but there is still room for efforts on “many issues that need to be resolved”.