Blinken and Sullivan will meet with top Chinese diplomats next week

This is not a strategic dialogue. It is not intended to have a series of follow-up tasks at this point. If these orders are followed, they will really be based on the suggestion that we are seeing concrete progress and tangible results on issues of concern to China. “

White House Press Secretary Jane Psaki said on Wednesday that it is important for the government to meet with China first on US soil and after consulting with Asian and European allies. Psaki said the officials will discuss issues on which the two sides have “deep differences”.

“We intend to discuss our expectations and openly explain Beijing’s actions … and our concerns about the challenges it poses to the security and values ​​of the United States, our allies and our partners,” she said. We’ll also talk about areas in which we can work together and about common interests. Naturally, we come to these discussions with pure eyes. The meeting also provides an opportunity to underscore how the United States will defend the international order based on rules and the freedom and openness of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Psaki said that the United States will deal with China from a “strong position” and “in full swing with our allies and partners.”

The meeting comes after President Joe Biden, and his first official contact with Chinese President Xi Jinping, last month, after several weeks of silence. In that call, Biden challenged Xi on a number of issues, including “China’s coercive and unfair economic practices,” “Hong Kong’s crackdown” and “human rights violations in Xinjiang.”

Biden announced the formation of a Pentagon task force in China last month, sending the message that the United States would not be ashamed of China.

In a speech last week at the State Department, Blink discussed rivalry with “superpowers” such as China and called on the United States to support workers to help them resist China.

“China is the only country with the economic, diplomatic, military and technological strength to seriously challenge a stable and open international order – all the rules, values ​​and relationships that make the world work the way we want it to,” she said. Speech.

Stephen Overley contributed to this report.