US called on to be sincere in Bali talks with China

Washington should stop poisoning its ties with Beijing and take actual moves to rebuild trust with sincerity if it seeks success at the upcoming talks of key diplomats of the two countries on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting, observers said.

State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Bali, Indonesia, as agreed by the Chinese and US sides, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian confirmed on Tuesday night.

The talks will be the third face-to-face meeting between the two senior officials following their talks in Anchorage and Rome last year.

This was confirmed after Vice-Premier Liu He spoke by video link on Tuesday morning with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen at the US' request about tariff and trade issues.

Wang and Blinken will "exchange views on current China-US relations and major international and regional issues", Zhao said.

Experts are not optimistic, given the current strained relationship, and they noted that the meeting was announced as Washington has reinforced its military, economic and geopolitical containment of China in the East Asian region by working closer with its allies.

The public focus and media attention on the upcoming meeting "shows that the international community expects functioning and stable communication between Beijing and Washington to avoid miscalculation", said Su Xiaohui, deputy director of the China Institute of International Studies' Department of American Studies.

"It is not compulsory to arrange for bilateral meetings on the sidelines of multilateral events, and the upcoming talks are part of China's diplomatic routine, as China has received invitations from other countries and organizations to hold bilateral meetings," she added.

It would surely be "good news" for bilateral ties and world peace and stability if the two sides could embark on in-depth, constructive communication at the meeting, Su said.

Jia Qingguo, director of the Institute for Global Cooperation and Understanding of Peking University and a leading expert on US studies, noted that senior officials of the two countries have resumed dialogue recently.

Last month, State Councilor and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe met with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Singapore and warned about the US' "illusions" on the Taiwan question.

Three days later, Yang Jiechi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, met in Luxembourg with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

"In general, bilateral relations are still very strained despite the fact that some government departments are approaching each other for dialogues," Jia said.

"Although there are some signs of pragmatism and reasonableness shown in areas such as economic, trade and climate change, it remains to be seen if the relationship as a whole could steadily develop and improve," Jia added.

In recent days, Chinese officials have publicly or indirectly criticized Washington for eating its words with regard to earlier pledges, such as on not containing China and not supporting "Taiwan independence".

Beijing sincerely hopes that Washington can move toward the same goal and fulfill its commitments, Chinese Consul General in San Francisco Zhang Jianmin told a local Chinese community event on Saturday.

The most important and sensitive topic in China-US ties is the Taiwan question, and the attempts of some US individuals seeking to contain China by using this are "doomed to fail", he added.

"The actions of the US have not been matched by its words. In fact, the US has bluntly interfered in China's domestic affairs over topics involving China's core interests such as Taiwan, Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong," Chinese Ambassador to Greece Xiao Junzheng told local media on Sunday.

At a news conference on Wednesday, Zhao, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, called on the US to "take tangible moves" to safeguard the political foundation of the relationship.

Washington should stay committed to the three landmark China-US communiques, stop backpedaling on past commitments, stop obscuring and hollowing out the one-China principle and stop supporting "Taiwan independence", he said.