Top U.S. diplomats met with their Chinese counterparts on Thursday for the start of a planned two-day summit in Alaska — the first formal meeting between U.S. and Chinese officials under the Biden administration. Within minutes, China began its criticisms against the U.S., and went on for an unprecedented 18 minutes.
Blinken listed a number of concerning actions by China, including its alleged human rights abuses against Uyghurs in Xinjiang, its legislative takeover of Hong Kong and its efforts to pressure Taiwan, as well as cyberattacks on the U.S. and economic coercion against U.S. allies.
“Each of these actions threaten the rules-based order that maintains global stability. That’s why they’re not merely internal matters and why we feel an obligation to raise these issues,” Blinken said.
Responding to Blinken’s opening remarks, Chinese Communist Party foreign affairs chief Yang Jiechi said, “China is firmly opposed to U.S. interference in China’s internal affairs. We have expressed our staunch opposition to such interference and we will take firm actions in response.”
Yang then turned the issue of human rights on the U.S.
“We hope that the United States will do better on human rights,” He said. “China has made steady progress on human rights and the fact is that there are many problems within the United States regarding human rights.”
Yang said U.S. human rights problems are “deep-seated” and did not come up only in the last four years, like the Black Lives Matter movement.
“So we do hope, for our two countries, it’s important that we manage our respective affairs well, instead of deflecting the blame on somebody else in this world,” Yang continued.
According to the Washington Examiner, Yang spoke for around 18 minutes, despite a customary two-minute allotment for opening remarks
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