US and China publicly rebuke each other in first major talks of Biden era

The United States and China have publicly clashed during their first face-to-face high-level talks since Joe Biden took office, with one senior Chinese official urging the US to address “deep-seated” issues such as racism, and accusing his American counterparts of “condescension”.

Any hopes that the meeting, in Anchorage, would reset bilateral ties after years of tensions over trade, human rights and cyber security during Donald Trump’s presidency evaporated when US secretary of state Antony Blinkenand national security adviser Jake Sullivan opened their meeting with China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi and state councillor Wang Yi.

After Blinken referred to rising global concern over Beijing’s human rights record, Yang said: “We hope that United States will do better on human rights. The fact is that there are many problems within the United States regarding human rights, which is admitted by the US itself,” he said in a 15-minute speech that appeared to irritate Blinken.

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