China's Wang Yi tells Blinken US should lift sanctions on Chinese firms

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi shake hands as they meet on the side of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, Germany February 16, 2024. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay/Pool

BEIJING (Reuters) -Washington should lift sanctions on Chinese companies and individuals, and that attempts to de-couple from China would only hurt the United States, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The United States should lift the sanctions and not harm China’s legitimate development rights, Wang told Blinken on Friday on the sidelines of a Munich security conference, according to a statement from China’s foreign ministry.

Washington has imposed sanctions on various Chinese companies that it accuses of working with China’s military despite denials from the firms. U.S. sanctions have also been imposed on individuals and entities over alleged human rights abuses in the Chinese region of Xinjiang.

Sino-U.S. relations have shown signs of improvement in recent months as both sides took steps to re-establish channels of communication after ties between the two global superpowers sank to their lowest levels in decades.

But many points of friction remain.

The Biden administration has imposed bans on the sale of certain technologies to Chinese companies, citing national security risks. China has accused Washington of “weaponising” economic and trade issues.

“Making ‘de-risking’ into ‘de-China’, and building ‘small yards and high walls’ and seeking ‘decoupling from China'” will only backfire on the U.S. itself, Wang told Blinken.

The exchanges between the two men were “frank, substantial and constructive”, the ministry said in the statement released on Saturday.

Both sides exchanged views on regional issues including the Ukraine crisis and the Korean Peninsula, the statement said, without giving further details.

It added the Korean Peninsula envoys of both sides will “stay in touch”.

Wang also reiterated that the United States should abide by the one-China principle, if it truly wanted stability in the Taiwan Strait.

“There is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is part of China’s territory, and that is the real status quo in the Taiwan issue,” Wang said.

China regards Taiwan as part of its territory. But Taiwan strongly objects to China’s sovereignty claims and says only the island’s people can decide their future.

U.S. President Joe Biden has said the United States does not support the independence of Taiwan. The United States does, however, maintain unofficial relations with the democratically governed island and remains its most important backer and arms supplier.

China and the U.S. have made some progress in bilateral relations since Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Biden in November, where they reached agreements covering fentanyl, military communications and artificial intelligence on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

China and the U.S. held their first joint meeting of a working group on fentanyl precursor chemicals in Beijing in late January and China’s financial officials hosted U.S. Treasury officials earlier this month.

Blinken and Wang discussed exchanges “at all levels” between the two countries in the next stage, and agreed to maintain dialogue in all areas, according to the Chinese foreign ministry statement.

(Reporting by Albee Zhang and Ryan Woo; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Michael Perry)