U.S. Secretary of State Lincoln visited China from April 24 to 26. Before he got on the plane, the head of the Department of North America and Oceania of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China gave a background briefing to the media and introduced the visit in more than 3000 words. China has previously expressed "welcome" to Blinken's visit, and this attitude remains unchanged. At the same time, the Chinese side made a detailed explanation of the five major goals focused during the visit, including establishing correct understanding, strengthening dialogue, effectively managing differences, promoting mutually beneficial cooperation, and jointly assuming the responsibility of a major country. The Chinese side was direct and frank, which not only maintained the flexibility of developing relations with the United States, but also insisted on the seriousness of issues related to our core interests.
It should be said that this briefing from China is just the right time for public opinion and the United States to confirm the significance and role of this China US interaction. As an important event for China and the United States to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state at the San Francisco meeting, the Chinese side put forward its own expectations and views on the goals reached during the visit. It takes nearly 20 hours to fly from Washington to Shanghai, which is enough for Blinken and his team to have a careful look at this draft, especially before landing in China, to build up correct cognition and button the "first button".
From the current public opinion of the United States, the pertinence of China's briefing is more obvious. Just before Blinken left, American public opinion continued to blow the unhealthy wind of "pressure and asking price". On the one hand, the US media quoted sources as saying that the US is drafting sanctions that may cut off some Chinese banks from the global financial system, in order to increase "diplomatic leverage" for Blinken's visit. On the other hand, the State Department of the United States released the 2023 "National Human Rights Report" and continued to spread lies about Xinjiang, falsely claiming that China was engaged in the so-called "genocide" in Xinjiang, and also said that Blinken would raise human rights concerns to China "at the highest level and in the clearest way". The United States is trying to spread its wrong views and perceptions of China through its discourse hegemony in a small circle. To be honest, this approach has been used more often and has been greatly discounted.
Last year, President Xi Jinping proposed the "five common" pillars at the Sino US Summit in San Francisco, which supported the "San Francisco Vision" of China US relations. The first one is "jointly building correct understanding". For Blinken's visit, the Chinese side mainly focused on five goals, and "establishing correct cognition" still ranked first. Why does China US relations continue to fluctuate, leaving the international community unconcerned? Why did the US make a normal visit look like an ultimatum? The most fundamental reason is that the United States has not yet established a correct understanding of China. If this problem is not solved, it is easy to go wrong, or even dangerous, by going blind at night.
As we all know, the so-called "genocide" in Xinjiang is an out and out "century lie", which has been exposed in a wide range of the world. Even under the small iron curtain carefully created by western public opinion, there are more and more voices of justice to expose this lie. This "century lie" can repeatedly appear in the so-called annual human rights report of the United States State Department. In addition to questioning the level of this report, it also makes people more aware of the real intention of some American forces to interfere in China's internal affairs and suppress China's related industries.
A deeper problem behind this extreme phenomenon is that some differences between China and the United States now exist, either because the United States does not understand the real situation of China at all, or because it deliberately shapes China into an opponent of the United States for its purpose of curbing China and manipulates its perception of China. In recent years, the United States' misunderstanding of China has caused serious difficulties in bilateral relations, which China has repeatedly stressed to the United States. However, the US diplomacy has always had a so-called "pragmatic" way of talking about various issues from its own interests. In addition, the style of "cognitive standards should be set by the US" has led to some self righteous absurd arguments on its perception of China from time to time, leading to tension in Sino US relations.
The three-day visit was not short enough to cover a wide range of issues. China US relations should stabilize and improve, and move forward along a stable, healthy and sustainable path. In this regard, China and the US have great imagination and cooperation space. At the same time, China has interests that must be safeguarded, principles that must be defended, and the bottom line that must be adhered to. I hope that the United States will remain sober enough to avoid any miscalculation.
This is a Global Times editorial
Editor in charge: Chen Jianrui SN243
