U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken took a thinly veiled swipe at China on Tuesday on the eve of an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum summit and the first face-to-face meeting between the U.S. and Chinese leaders in a year.
Addressing a ministerial meeting of the 21-member APEC in San Francisco, Blinken stressed the U.S. believed in "a region where economies are free to choose their own path ... where goods, ideas, people, flow lawfully and freely.”
China's President Xi Jinping is expected in San Francisco later on Tuesday on his first visit to the U.S. since 2017. He is due to meet U.S. President Joe Biden at an undisclosed location in the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday morning and then attend the APEC summit.
The Biden-Xi meeting will be only their second in person since the U.S. President's inauguration in 2021 and has been billed by U.S. officials as an opportunity to reduce friction in what many see as the world's most dangerous rivalry.
Blinken did not mention China in his remarks, but his language echoed U.S. rhetoric in recent years in which Washington has accused China of bullying smaller countries in the Indo-Pacific and trying to undermine what the U.S. and its allies call the existing "rules-based" order.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, who with Blinken opened the APEC ministerial session, said the San Francisco meeting came at a time of "great uncertainty and challenges" for the region. She noted increasing geopolitical tensions, fragile supply chains and a worsening climate crisis.
Earlier, Biden said his goal in his talks with Xi would be to improve the relationship with China after a period of strained ties. He said he would seek to resume normal communications between the two superpowers, including military-to-military contacts.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Biden and Xi would also talk about the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza as well as U.S. efforts to support Ukraine in its battle to repel Russian invaders.
Economic issues will be high on the agenda.
Biden said the U.S. does not want to decouple from China but wants to change the economic relationship for the better.
Restoring the contacts is a top U.S. goal to avoid miscalculations between the two militaries.
Relations between the two countries grew particularly frosty after Biden ordered the shooting down in February of a suspected Chinese spy balloon that flew over the United States.
Top Biden administration officials have since visited Beijing and met with their counterparts in an effort to rebuild communications and trust.
