China Says It Has ‘No Time’ to Deal with Antony Blinken

China’s state-run Global Times propaganda newspaper published an editorial on Wednesday dismissing calls by American Secretary of State Antony Blinken for Beijing to return to communications with Washington, stating the Communist Party has “no time” for “insincere people” like Blinken.

The Times was apparently responding to remarks Blinken made during his visit to Japan this week, during which he attended a meeting of the top diplomats of G7 member countries. The foreign ministers published a joint communique condemning communist China for, among other provocative behavior, threatening to invade Taiwan and colonizing parts of the South China Sea that belong to other countries.

Blinken was reportedly scheduled to visit China in February. Beijing never confirmed that the trip would occur, but the timing coincided with the discovery of a Chinese surveillance balloon floating over Montana and, eventually, across North America, prompting widespread national security concerns. The administration of leftist President Joe Biden allowed the balloon to cross the country, shooting it down in East Coast waters days after its discovery. This month, a report revealed that the balloon likely sent intelligence regarding sensitive American military sites back to China in real time. Beijing claimed the balloon was innocuous and had accidentally floated out of Asia toward the Western Hemisphere.

Media reports stated in February that Blinken’s visit to China was “canceled” or “postponed,” but the Chinese government refused to acknowledge those reports at the time, stating that Blinken had never announced an official visit, so it could not be “canceled.”

“In actuality, the U.S. and China have never announced any visit, the U.S. making any such announcement is their own business, and we respect that,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

The Global Times editorial on Wednesday appeared to confirm that such a visit was in the works – and that the Chinese government had no interest in rescheduling it.

“Blinken’s planned visit to China in February was unilaterally postponed by the US due to the sudden hype around the ‘balloon incident’ before his departure,” the state newspaper recalled. “This to some extent, it [sic] has reflected the US’ reckless and irresponsible attitude towards Blinken’s visit to China. It refused to come then, but now insists on coming. How can everything be up to the US, and everyone else has to cooperate with it?”

“China is a big country and will not indulge such problem [sic],” the editorial railed. “China’s diplomacy is very busy and cannot adjust at any time according to the US’ schedule, especially no time to receive insincere or even people with malicious intentions.”

The editorial also raised reports that China had “frozen” all communication at the highest diplomatic levels with the Biden administration since the balloon incident, apparently confirming them.

“Almost every time its high-ranking officials come, they bring a long list of so-called demands,” the editorial sighed.
July was one of the last times Blinken engaged with high-level Chinese officials; at a meeting that lasted five hours, then-Foreign Minister Wang Yi presented Blinken with an “updated list of U.S. wrongdoings” to correct.

“While the US continues to take hostile actions towards China, it also wants to use ‘engagement’ to stabilize China and control risks while taking advantage of the opportunity to pressure and unilaterally demand from China,” the Global Times continued, “with even the idea that ‘communication’ is all for ‘convenience for me to better attack you.'”

“Can’t China just don’t deal [sic] with the US, which is so calculative?” the editorial asked, concluding, “temporarily cold-shouldering Washington is not a bad idea.”

The comments apparently triggering the Global Times screed came from a press conference Blinken held in Japan on Tuesday in which he expressed frustration with China’s lack of communication.

“We’re also equally committed, individually and collectively, to constructively engaging with Beijing if it chooses to contribute its efforts – to efforts to address shared global challenges,” Blinken said. “That is what the world expects of responsible powers.”

“We believe – the United States – that having lines of communication, being able to engage across the broad range of issues that animate the relationship, is important,” he continued. “And we also believe that countries around the world expect us to manage the relationship with China responsibly, and that starts with engagement, with having lines of communication.”

The communique published by the G7’s top diplomats also appeared to outrage the Chinese government. It included a subsection dedicated to relations with China that condemned the Communist Party’s belligerence towards its neighbors, particularly the nation of Taiwan.

“We reiterate our call for China to act as a responsible member of the international community,” the communique read in part, calling for Taiwan’s participation at international venues such as the World Health Organization and condemning China’s “militarization” of parts of the South China Sea belonging to Vietnam and the Philippines.

“The communiqué reflects the group’s arrogance, prejudice and deliberate desire to block and contain China. We deplore and reject this and have made a strong démarche to the host Japan,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Wang Wenbin declared Tuesday.

“We once again urge G7 to reflect on their own problems and discard the Cold War mentality and ideological prejudices. They should stop running counter to the prevailing trend of today’s world,” Wang ranted, “stop pointing fingers condescendingly, stop grossly interfering in other countries’ internal affairs and stop deliberately creating antagonism and division in the international community.”

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