On March 18, 2021 local time, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs Yang Jiechi and State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a China-U.S. high-level strategic dialogue with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in Anchorage.
After the opening remarks of the U.S. side, Yang Jiechi spoke first, emphasizing that, on the eve of the Chinese New Year, President Xi Jinping held a successful telephone conversation with President Joe Biden and the two sides agreed to enhance communication, manage differences and expand cooperation, which is of great significance in guiding the growth of China-U.S. relations in the time to come. China's attendance to the high-level strategic dialogue at the invitation of the U.S. side in Anchorage is an important step to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state in their phone talks, and the dialogue was decided by the two presidents personally. The Chinese and American people, as well as the wider international community are looking forward to practical outcomes from the dialogue.
Yang Jiechi said that we hope this dialogue will be candid and frank. As major countries of the world, China and the United States shoulder responsibility for global and regional peace, stability and development. China just concluded the two sessions, and adopted the Outline of 14th Five-year Plan (2021-2025) for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035. China stands at a historical juncture of achieving the two centenary goals, i.e. basically achieving socialist modernization by 2035 and building China into a great modern socialist country by 2050. China has made major strategic achievements in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, achieved comprehensive victory in eradicating poverty, and made great historical achievements in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. The Chinese people unite more closely around the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping at the core.
Yang Jiechi pointed out that China upholds humanity's common values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom. China stands for safeguarding the international system with the United Nations (UN) at the core and the international order based on international law, rather than the order based on the rules formulated by a small number of countries. Most countries in the world do not recognize that the U.S. values represent the international values, do not recognize that what the United States says represents the international public opinion, and do not recognize that the rules formulated by a few countries represent international rules. The United States has its own model of democracy, and China has its own style. Unlike the U.S., which willfully uses military forces, and causes instability and unrest worldwide, China is committed to the path of peaceful development and has made unremitting efforts to promote international and regional peace and development, and uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. The United States has many domestic problems in areas like human rights. What the United States should do is to improve its image and mind its own business, rather than leaving its own problems unsolved, shipping its problems to other parts of the world, diverting attention of others, and making irresponsible remarks about China's human rights and democracy. The CPC's leadership and China's political system are supported wholeheartedly by the Chinese people, and any attempt to change China's social system will be futile.
Yang Jiechi stressed that China and the United States are both major countries in the world, and share tremendous common interests in fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic, resuming work and production and tackling climate change. He hopes that the U.S. side will change its zero-sum mentality, abandon wrong approaches such as "long-arm jurisdiction", and does not abuse the concept of national security to interfere with normal trade between the two countries. China and the U.S. should develop good relations with all countries in Asia-Pacific and have common friends. This is how the world works in the 21st Century. Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang are inalienable parts of China. China firmly opposes U.S. interference in its internal affairs and will continue to make strong responses. The United States is not qualified to talk to China in a condescending manner. The Chinese people will not accept that. It must be based on mutual respect to deal with China, and history will prove that those who seek to strangle China will suffer in the end.
Yang Jiechi said that many achievements have been made since the "ice-breaking" of China-U.S. relations, which are accomplished by the joint efforts of people with vision on both sides and are hard won. The international situation has witnessed great changes. Under the new situation, the two countries must enhance mutual communication, properly manage differences, strive to promote cooperation and avoid confrontation. There was an era of confrontation between China and the United States, and China has come through. Facts have proved that confrontation has no benefits for the United States. President Xi Jinping pointed out that China and the United States should be committed to non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, and President Joe Biden also said the two countries should avoid conflict or confrontation with each other. The two sides should fully and correctly implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries so as to return China-U.S. relations to the track of healthy and stable development.
