Mr Blinken also confirmed during his hearing that he was not contemplating concessions to the Chinese government going into the Anchorage meeting
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will meet their Chinese counterparts, Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs Yang Jiechi and State Councilor Wang Yi in Anchorage on May 19, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said via a statement.
The U.S. will raise the many concerns it has with Beijing’s actions and behaviour that pose security challenges to the U.S. and its partners, Mr Blinken told the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC), in front of which he was testifying when news of the Anchorage meeting broke. A State Department statement noted that the meetings will take place after Mr Blinken meets with his counterparts in South Korea and Japan – which is scheduled to happen earlier next week.
“This is an important opportunity for us to lay out in very frank terms the many concerns we have with Beijing’s actions and behaviour that are challenging the security, the prosperity and the values of the United States and our partners and allies,” Mr Blinken told the House.
“So we intend to raise and we will raise a host of issues…We’ll also explore whether there are avenues for cooperation, and we’ll talk about the competition that we have with China to make sure that the United States has a level playing field and that our companies and workers benefit from that,” he said.
Mr Blinken also made clear that next week’s meeting was not a strategic dialogue.
“This is not a strategic dialogue. There’s no intent at this point for a series of follow-on engagements. Those engagements if they are to follow really have to be based on the proposition that we’re seeing tangible progress and tangible outcomes on the issue of concern to us with China,” he said.
Mr Blinken also confirmed during his hearing that he was not contemplating concessions to the Chinese government going into the Anchorage meeting.
