China plans to ask the US to reverse Trump policy at the Alaska meeting

US officials say the meeting is a way to file US complaints about Chinese actions, such as the curtailment of liberties in Hong Kong, the expansion of the navy in the South China Sea, economic pressure on US allies, intellectual violations. property and cyber incidents. The US also plans to poll Chinese officials about ways the two countries could work together on issues such as climate change and global health.

China has a different agenda that overlaps little with Washington’s, a sign of how far apart the two sides are and how difficult it will be to mend the relationship.

Yang Jiechi, a member of the Communist Party’s governing body, and Secretary of State Wang Yi plan to urge Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan to push for sanctions and restrictions on Chinese entities and individuals by the Trump administration have been introduced. the people with knowledge of the plans.

Chinese officials also plan to propose to re-establish regular high-level meetings between the two sides and schedule a virtual summit between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Mr Biden in April at a global conference on climate change. The White House declined to comment on the prospect of such a meeting.

China’s broad agenda reflects greater confidence in Beijing, which in the past has used high-level meetings primarily to respond to US initiatives. “China feels that it has a tailwind, that the east is rising and the west is fading,” said Daniel Russel, a former Obama State Department official.

The measures China wants to roll back include restrictions on US sales to Chinese companies, such as the telecommunications company Huawei Technologies Co. and chip manufacturer Semiconductor Manufacturing International. Corp.

Visa restrictions for members of the Communist Party, Chinese students and journalists from the state media; and closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston. Beijing has retaliated in kind, hitting US entities and individuals with similar penalties.

Should those restrictions be lifted or loosened, China would consider lifting its own countermeasures, the people knowing the Chinese plans said.

Mr. Yang and Mr. Wang intend to propose a new framework for establishing recurring annual meetings between the two powers to resolve differences in economic, trade, security and other areas. The so-called strategic dialogue format was introduced during the George W. Bush administration and continued through the Obama years, when Messrs. Blinken and Sullivan were top foreign policy officials.

President Donald Trump did away with the mechanism because his advisers said China used it to bind Americans into endless discussions. The Biden government has so far shown no interest in resuming talks.

A senior official in the Biden administration downplayed the expectation that the Alaska meeting would lead to any agreement. The official described it as a one-time meeting that did not predict “the resumption of a particular dialogue mechanism or the beginning of a dialogue process.”

Beijing should also not expect concrete results, said Mr Russel, the former Obama official who is now a vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute, a think tank. Instead, the Chinese will “try to get a better understanding of where Americans think the relationship is going to go and what’s possible,” he said.

So far, the Biden administration has continued some of Mr Trump’s policies, including Tuesday the extension of sanctions against Chinese officials who it believes have undermined Hong Kong’s autonomy over Beijing.

On Wednesday, the US Department of Commerce issued subpoenas to multiple Chinese companies as part of US efforts to target technology and services that could threaten national security.

Tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on Chinese goods are not expected to be high on the Chinese agenda in Alaska, even though Mr. Wang, the Secretary of State, called for the abolition of trade-related fines in February.

China began reaching out to Biden assistants late last year, although China’s State Department said the suggestion for the Alaska meeting came from Washington. “The US side suggested holding this high-level strategic dialogue, which we believe makes sense,” the ministry told The Wall Street Journal. It didn’t go further, saying, “We hope the two sides can engage in a frank dialogue on issues of mutual interest.”

Chinese officials plan to propose a virtual climate summit to be attended by world leaders on April 22, Earth Day, to schedule a meeting between Messrs Xi and Biden, said the people with knowledge of the plans of Beijing. Both sides have indicated their willingness to work together to combat global warming and other climate-related issues, although the US is wary that China will try to use the climate issue to induce the US to move back in other areas. Pull.

The two leaders have spoken once since the US presidential election, a session that, according to Mr Biden, lasted two hours.

Chinese officials say there is no room for compromise on sovereignty issues involving Hong Kong and Taiwan. Mr Blinken, who will stop in Alaska this week on his way back from a trip to Japan and South Korea, fired salvos on both issues from Tokyo at China on Thursday.

China also plans to propose that both countries create a “vaccine passport” to verify evidence of immunization, those familiar with the plans said. Chinese officials hope this can facilitate travel between the two countries.

It could also help China gain recognition for its homegrown vaccines. In recent days, some Chinese embassies have said they would facilitate visas for foreigners who have received Chinese vaccines.

Beijing’s broad agenda for the meeting shows that the Chinese leadership has increasing confidence in the party-state system. The Chinese economy has weathered a trade war with the Trump administration and has recovered strongly, helped by early progress in curbing coronavirus infections. Mr. Xi, the most powerful Chinese leader in recent decades, enjoys widespread support among the Chinese public, Chinese officials say.

Still, Beijing is keen to get past the turmoil in its relationship with the US, which has taken its toll on corporate and investor confidence in the world’s second-largest economy.

The Biden team also believes it is in a strong position, having adopted a $ 1.9 trillion economic aid package and started working with allies on China and other economic issues, the Biden’s senior official said. -administration.

The symbolism of the meeting is important, the official said, noting the importance of both the secretary of state and the national security adviser representing the US. In the past, China has tried to take advantage of the splits among US representatives, the official said.

Having Messrs. Blinken and Sullivan at the session will make it clear, the official said, “there will be no daylight and that the games that China has played in the past, to divide us, or try to divide us, just not be. going to work here. “

The US side plans to address the economic pressure China has put on Australia by restricting imports after Canberra called for an independent investigation into the origins of the coronavirus. A spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry this week blamed the tension on “Australia’s wrong words and actions on issues pertaining to China’s sovereignty, security and development interests.”

The session will help both sides better understand the other, Biden’s senior official said. “It’s about communicating the areas where we want to take action, and it’s about understanding where our Chinese interlocutors are,” said the official.

Write to Lingling Wei at [email protected] and Bob Davis at [email protected]