BEIJING (CHINA) – The United States and China could work together on issues like climate change and the coronavirus pandemic if they repaired their damaged bilateral relationship said Senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi on Monday.
Before Wang spoke at a forum sponsored by the foreign ministry, officials played footage of the “ping-pong diplomacy” of 1972 when an exchange of table tennis players cleared the way for then U.S. President Richard Nixon to visit China.
“Over the past few years, the United States basically cut off bilateral dialogue at all levels,” Wang said in prepared remarks translated into English.
Wang urged Washington to remove tariffs on Chinese goods and abandon what he said was an irrational suppression of the Chinese tech sector. He added that these steps would create the “necessary conditions” for cooperation.
Wang, a Chinese state councillor and foreign minister, said Beijing stood ready to reopen constructive dialogue with Washington after relations between the two countries sank to their lowest in decades under former president Donald Trump.
“We stand ready to have candid communication with the U.S. side, and engage in dialogues aimed at solving problems.”
Wang pointed to a recent call between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden as a positive step.
The Biden administration has, however,signalled, it will maintain pressure on Beijing.