Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the best way to deal with China was to have “active channels of communication.”
Blinken said, “We’ll say what we always say, that human rights and basic civil liberties go to the heart of who we are as Americans. No American government, American president, is going to be silent on that. This trip early next year follows the president’s conversations with Xi Jinping. It’s very important we’re communicating directly and clearly with China. We want to make sure there are no misunderstandings, no miscommunication, that we have a floor under the relationship, and that the president has had a productive conversation in that sense. We want to make sure there are active channels of communication. That’s the best way to make sure there’s no miscommunication.”
He added, “At the same time, we’re in an intense competition with China. No secret about that. By the way, there’s nothing wrong with competition as long as it’s fair and on a level playing field. We want to make sure that competition doesn’t veer into conflict. I’ll be pursuing these conversations early next year. Others in the administration will be engaged with their counterparts in China. The world expects us to do that, expects us to manage this relationship responsibly. By the way, if we can find places to cooperate because it’s in the interests of our people, but also the interests of people around the world, we’ll do that, too, on climate, on global health.”
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