Why China's Foreign Minister Suddenly Wants Stronger Sino-US Relations

San Francisco — 

A Chinese official’s pitch this week for stronger Sino-U.S. relations could indicate that Beijing wants to edge away from Russia and repair economic relations, some analysts say.

In a speech Monday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged Washington to “reinstate a reasonable and pragmatic China policy” and “promote putting bilateral ties back on the right track,” the state-run China Daily news website reported.

A breakthrough in Sino-U.S. relations would mark a turning point since the two powers began sparring in 2017 over trade, technology transfers and growing Chinese military might around Asia. U.S. President Joe Biden’s government said in a report Tuesday it still sees China as a competitor that’s “unfair” in trade.

Trade ties, distance from Russia

China has tried to avoid siding openly with Russia on its invasion of Ukraine last week despite a long, deepening friendship with Moscow.

China did not join Russia in vetoing a U.S.-backed U.N. Security Council resolution against the attack, and its U.N. ambassador suggested that Ukraine form a “bridge” between the East and West .

Washington has blasted its former Cold War rival Russia over the invasion.

Wang is “trying to make nice” in view of China’s “increasingly” close ties with Russia, said Sean King, vice president of Park Strategies political consultancy in New York. “These are perilous times when we see who’s who and what’s what,” King said.

Chinese officials are hoping the U.S. side will welcome their appeal for better relations as the United States faces “mounting inflation” among other economic issues, said Oh Ei Sun, senior fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.

Wang said Monday that China was willing to work with the United States on a G-7-led global infrastructure plan called Build Back Better World and welcomes Washington in its Belt and Road Initiative aimed at opening trade routes by building new infrastructure. Biden happens to be pushing the U.S. Senate for a $2-trillion social spending bill, which also is called Build Back Better.

“Now that the U.S. is embroiled in the confrontation with Russia, the U.S. will need friends and allies, and China has been adopting a rather ambivalent attitude with regards to the Ukraine invasion, so that creates a window of opportunity for the U.S. and China to come closer together,” Oh said.

China could offer the United States “cost effective technology” for railways and prefabricated bridges, said Eduardo Araral, associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s public policy school. But he said Washington may be “too proud” to accept that support.

He said that bickering between the two powers has eased already. “Now it’s either no news or positive news, which is good news,” Araral said. “At least there’s no more shouting match or megaphone diplomacy.”

Momentum from 50 years ago

Wang spoke Monday at a video ceremony marking the 50-year anniversary of the Shanghai Communique. Former Chinese leader Mao Zedong and former U.S. President Richard Nixon signed the statement as a prelude to normalizing two-way relations.

“History tells us that by seeking common ground while reserving differences, we can attain peaceful co-existence between countries with different social systems,” the foreign minister said.

“The older generation of leaders in both countries realized that despite the differences, neither side had the intention to change the other,” he said. “Both sides hoped to see that the two countries could grow in parallel and conduct cooperation based on shared interests.”

No deal yet

The Chinese foreign minister’s comments, however, offer no actual deal. Wang criticized Washington on Monday as not “earnestly complying with the principles and spirit” of the Shanghai Communique, China Daily reported.

“It should abandon its mania for zero-sum games, give up its obsession with encircling and containing China, and break free from the shackles of political correctness,” he told the video ceremony.

Americans continue to worry about China. Some point to China’s growing use of big data analytics and its links to COVID-19. The coronavirus was first reported in China in late 2019.

“Unfortunately, with the virus, everybody blames China, so I don’t think it’s going to change,” said Sylvia Rampi, general manager for an association of mostly Chinese-operated businesses in Oakland, California.

Taiwan Vice President in Honduras to Shore Up Relations

TAIPEI — 

Taiwanese Vice President William Lai will attend the inauguration of the first female president of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, on Thursday in a move to shore up the relationship between Taipei and Honduras, one of Taiwan’s few remaining diplomatic allies.

Honduras is one of only 14 countries that maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Last month, its neighboring country, Nicaragua, severed ties with Taiwan and re-established relations with Beijing, which considers Taiwan a breakaway province that someday will be reunified with the mainland. Taipei views itself as a self-governing state.

Speaking at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport before his departure, Lai said he would take medical supplies to help combat the COVID-19 pandemic in Honduras. According to Reuters, since 2006 Taiwan has loaned Honduras around $205 million and given another $27 million in donations.

During a layover in Los Angeles on Tuesday, he held an online meeting with U.S. lawmakers to discuss bilateral trade relations and the threats posed by China, according to the Taipei Times.

In this photo released by the Taiwan Presidential Office, Taiwan Vice President William Lai waves to supporters during a stopover in Los Angeles, Jan. 25, 2022. Lai is leading a Taiwanese delegation to Honduras for the inauguration of President-elect Xiomara Castro Jan. 27-28.

“Honduras is an important ally of Taiwan in Central America,” he said Tuesday. “On this trip, we will bring a variety of Taiwan-made disease prevention equipment to give to the people of Honduras, taking concrete action to demonstrate our strong support for the Taiwan-Honduras alliance and the new Honduran administration on the first day of President Castro’s term.” Less than 50% of the Honduran population is fully vaccinated, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.

During her campaign, Castro, a member of the left-wing Liberty and Refoundation Party (Libre), said she would re-establish diplomatic relations with China if elected, according to the Taiwan News. After a November trip by high-level officials from the U.S. State Department, who expressed the hope that Honduras would maintain its relationship with Taiwan, Castro backtracked and signaled support for Taiwan by retweeting congratulations from its president, Tsai Ing-wen.

US ties valued

Gerardo Torres, Libre Party secretary of international relations, said after Castro was elected on November 28 that the incoming administration would not sever ties with Taipei. “Nobody in the party wants to enter government distancing ourselves from the United States,” he said on December 10, according to the Taipei Times.

I believe that we have a responsibility to [Taiwan] as someone with whom we have had a good relationship,” said Rodolfo Pastor, a foreign policy adviser to Castro, according to the website Diálogo Chino.

“But I do believe that we also have a responsibility to our own population to be realistic, to be pragmatic and to understand that mainland China today plays a determining role that we cannot let go unnoticed,” Pastor said.

Analysts told VOA Mandarin that Castro was unlikely to cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan after the U.S. intervention.

“It’s not really about what we have done to consolidate the bilateral relationship with Honduras, it’s more about the U.S. factor,” Ko Yu-Chih, an associate professor at National Chengchi University in Taipei, told VOA Mandarin in a phone interview.

FILE – In this photo released by the Taiwan Presidential Office, outgoing Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, left, exchanges gifts with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen during a meeting in Taipei, Taiwan, Nov. 13, 2021.

Chang Kuang-Chiu, an associate professor at Chihlee University of Technology in Taipei, agreed. He said that because the U.S. is the largest trade partner of Honduras, and the U.S. military maintains the Soto Cano Air Base in the Central American country, “Honduras will likely make their relations with the U.S. as a priority.”

Meeting possible?

Meanwhile, there was speculation that Lai will meet unofficially with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who also is attending the inauguration.

A White House official on Wednesday told VOA Mandarin that “there are no plans for her [Harris] to meet with VP Lai while in Honduras.”

While there is no official diplomatic relationship between the United States and Taiwan, informal meetings between U.S. officials and Taiwan leaders on stopovers in the U.S. have become an institutionalized part of bilateral relations.

Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for China’s State Council Office on Taiwan Affairs, said on Wednesday at a daily briefing that China strongly opposed any form of official contact between Taipei and Washington.

“The DPP [Democratic Progressive Party] authorities are using the so-called ‘transit trip’ to seek official contact with the United States and opportunities for independence,” she said. “No matter what trick they use, it will not change the fact that there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is a part of China.”

Ryan Hass, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told VOA Mandarin that observers who follow relations between China and Taiwan are keeping an eye on whether Harris and Lai will have any meaningful interaction on the margins of the inauguration, and if so, what messages are shared.

“Traditionally, international inaugurations, funerals and multilateral events, such as APEC [Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation] conferences, are the venues where senior U.S. and Taiwan officials have opportunities to be in direct, personal contact. If the U.S. has a message it would like to convey to VP Lai, this inauguration presents a unique opportunity to do so,” he told VOA Mandarin in an email.

Avoiding ‘great disturbance’

Ko, of the National Chengchi University, argued that it’s possible the two leaders might have an opportunity to exchange a few words, but that the U.S. was unlikely to arrange a talk on the sidelines because it would anger China.

“If there is such an arrangement, it will cause a great disturbance in Sino-U.S. relations, which is also not beneficial for the stability of Taiwan,” she said. “The Biden administration is now dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic at home and Ukraine crisis abroad. Taiwan is not really a priority for the U.S. at this time.”

Hass, of Brookings, said Lai’s layovers in the U.S. follow long-standing American policy in consideration for the safety, comfort, convenience and dignity of Taiwanese officials.

“It reflects the Biden administration’s efforts to maintain a steady, principled approach to its Taiwan policy,” he said. “I do not expect the transit to deviate in any significant way from established practice.”