Blinken-Xi Talks Highlight Continued Areas of Disagreement

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at key flash points between the United States and China, leadership shake-ups in Vietnam and Haiti, and the second phase of India’s general elections.

U.S.-China Tensions

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday after three days of talks between Blinken and top Chinese officials and business leaders, including a 5 1/2-hour meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. This was Blinken’s second visit to China since U.S. President Joe Biden took office and the second high-level trip by a U.S. official to the country this month; Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen spent five days in the country in early April meeting with Chinese officials and finance leaders. That came on the heels of a rare phone call between Biden and Xi on April 2.

The flurry of diplomatic contacts reflects an effort by the two world powers to stabilize their relationship after the period of animosity earlier in Biden’s tenure, and it comes despite numerous areas of disagreement that continue to strain relations. “We are committed to maintaining and strengthening lines of communication between us” to prevent “any miscommunications, any misperceptions, and any miscalculations,” Blinken said during his visit.

Xi expressed similar aspirations: “China and the United States should be partners rather than rivals,” Xi told Blinken, adding that this year marks the 45th anniversary of the two countries establishing diplomatic ties.

Yet tensions remained high as both sides accused the other of trying to stifle their respective economies and influence their foreign-policy strategies. “The United States has adopted an endless stream of measures to suppress China’s economy, trade, science, and technology,” Wang said. Xi appeared to echo this sentiment, blaming Washington for trying to hinder China’s technological progress and encircling its interests in the Indo-Pacific, specifically regarding Taiwan and the South China Sea.

Blinken pointed fingers as well, accusing Beijing of endangering U.S. jobs with cheap Chinese exports. He also threatened to place new sanctions on China—adding to the more than 100 sanctions that already exist on Chinese individuals and entities—if Beijing does not curb its support for Russia in its war against Ukraine. In April, a senior Biden administration official said China has provided Moscow with semiconductors, drones, and other materials that fill critical gaps in Russian supply chains. “Russia would struggle to sustain its assault on Ukraine without China’s support,” Blinken said on Friday.

China has denied providing weapons to Russia and maintains its neutrality in the war. However, soon after Blinken arrived in Beijing on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he will visit China in May.

Among other top concerns, Blinken told CNN on Friday that Washington has seen evidence of Chinese attempts to “influence and arguably interfere” in the United States’ upcoming presidential election despite Xi pledging not to do so during his meeting with Biden at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco last November. Campaign rhetoric has since grown more hawkish as Biden faces pressure to better protect U.S. industries from Chinese competition.

Few agreements emerged during this week’s talks, and there was reportedly no mention of the recently passed U.S. law that will ban TikTok if its Chinese owner, ByteDance, does not sell it within a year. However, both sides established their first joint conversation on artificial intelligence, to be held in the coming weeks. And the United States and China agreed to continue improving bilateral communication between their militaries as well as increase cultural exchanges, with Blinken saying he supports more U.S. citizens studying in China.

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What We’re Following

Senior resignations. Political chaos in Vietnam escalated on Friday after Vuong Dinh Hue, the chair of Vietnam’s National Assembly, resigned. Hue was the fourth most powerful member of the country’s Communist Party, and his decision marks the latest high-level resignation over a sweeping corruption investigation that has accused senior leaders of violating party regulations, including former Vietnamese Presidents Vo Van Thuong and Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

In more resignation news, caretaker Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry officially stepped down on Thursday. Finance Minister Michel Patrick Boisvert, who has overseen the country since Henry left on a diplomatic mission to Kenya two months ago and was prevented from returning, will lead a transitional council of representatives from several political parties to prepare for future presidential elections. The council was formally sworn in on Thursday. Regional experts hope a new government will be able to accept the deployment of a United Nations-approved security force to combat rampant gang violence across Port-au-Prince.

Round two. India kicked off the second phase of its general elections on Friday with 88 out of 543 lower house seats up for grabs. Voter turnout on Friday, however, was only 61 percent—lower than last week’s 65 percent. Five years ago, turnout during the second phase reached 68 percent. India’s Election Commission expressed concern that unseasonably hot weather, among other factors, could affect turnout.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party are leading in the polls. The right-wing leader has accused the opposition Indian National Congress party of favoring minority Muslims and planning to introduce an inheritance tax, charges that Congress members have denied. In turn, Congress blamed Modi for using Hindu nationalist language to distract voters from key issues, such as unemployment and India’s rising cost of living. General elections conclude on June 1, and votes will be counted on June 4.

Funding support. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced a $6 billion military aid package to Ukraine on Friday. It will include critical interceptors for air defense systems, counter-drone systems, artillery ammunition, air-to-ground munitions, and other maintenance and support equipment. “If Putin prevails in Ukraine, the security circumstances would be global,” Austin said, pointing to Biden’s past comment that the Russian president would not stop in Kyiv.

This is the largest U.S. package solely dedicated to Ukraine’s war effort to date, and it comes after Biden signed off on a $95 billion funding package on Wednesday that includes around $61 billion for Ukraine. Another aid package of up to $1 billion was approved earlier this week.

What in the World?

Pakistan and Iran on Wednesday pledged to enhance their efforts to act as a “united front” against which common enemy?

A. Kurdish separatist groups
B. Israel
C. China
D. Afghanistan-based militants

Odds and Ends

More than 10 government officials joined a search party in Japan’s Aichi Prefecture on Friday—not to locate a missing person but to find missing documents. Last week, a Japanese bureaucrat trying to transport housing data to another building accidentally toppled the cart, spilling reams of paper into the street. A strong gust completed the cartoon-like moment, and now, paperwork with data on 121 households, including residents’ names, is literally in the wind.

And the Answer Is…

D. Afghanistan-based militants

The pledge follows a recent surge in terrorist attacks from the Islamic State-Khorasan. Those include a March attack on a Moscow-area concert venue, which reminded the world of the persistence of terrorism, Colin P. Clarke wrote this month.

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