The United States and China candidly laid bare their differences Tuesday as they grapple with managing future ties, with both sides insisting confrontation was not in the world's interests. At the start of key annual talks, US Vice President Joe Biden sharply warned Beijing that the world's waterways which carry 80 percent of the planet's commerce must remain open for trade.
"Responsible countries adhere to international law and work together to keep international sea lanes open for unimpaired commerce," Biden said. The two major trading partners remain at odds over China's claims to much of the South China Sea and Washington has repeatedly urged Beijing to stop building artificial islands in the area and to resolve its territorial claims peacefully. But China said last month it will project its military power further beyond its borders at sea and more assertively in the air. "Nations that discard diplomacy and use coercion and intimidation to settle disputes, or turn a blind eye to aggression of others only invite instability," Biden warned.
In unusually frank comments, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang agreed Beijing and Washington do not agree on everything, admitting "on some issues consensus still eludes us." But he insisted "confrontation is a negative-sum game," adding that "dialogue is always more preferable than confrontation." "China and US must not follow old paths of confrontation and conflict," he stressed.
Welcoming the top delegation of Chinese officials to Washington also led by China's State Councilor Yang Jiechi, Biden insisted Beijing must be at the table in all important global negotiations. "There will be intense competition, we will have intense disagreements. That's the nature of international relations," Biden said. "There are important issues where we don't see eye-to-eye, but it doesn't mean we should stop working hand-in-hand."
President Barack Obama will meet Wednesday with members of the Chinese delegation, as the talks lay the groundwork for the upcoming visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping in September. Cyber issues, human rights, sustainable development remained problem areas, Biden said, acknowledging that not everything would be resolve in this weeks' talks. "We have a lot of hard work to do, but we have to keep at it ... This relationship is just too important," Biden said. "Not only (do) we depend on it, but the world depends on our mutual success."
Although the US vice president did not gloss over differences, he praised China for being "a partner" on many issues from nuclear negotiations to climate change. About 400 Chinese officials have converged on Washington for the high-level annual talks also being hosted by Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew. High on the agenda for the talks is the issue of cyber hacking, with Lew insisting both nations must "abide by certain standards of behaviour within cyberspace."
Ties have strained over US accusations of cyber espionage and a bilateral cyber working group was suspended by Beijing last year after Washington indicted five Chinese military officers for hacking into US computers. This week's talks come after revelations of huge breaches of US government computer networks - an issue US officials said they would raise directly with their Chinese guests.
The US administration has not openly accused Beijing of hacking into some 14 million employee records of the Office of Personnel Management, but the massive data breach is under investigation by the FBI. "We remain deeply concerned about government-sponsored cyber theft from companies and commercial sectors," Lew told the delegations. "The United States and China have a shared interest in ensuring that the Internet continues to drive growth and prosperity world-wide."
Kerry, meanwhile, said the two countries, the world's two largest emitters of greenhouse gases, were working "effectively" to try to reduce emissions ahead of a key UN-led Paris conference on setting new targets in December. "The idea is that you are creating a critical mass of countries that are setting these targets and everyone feels compelled to join," Kerry said.