US visit set to 'tackle sensitive issues'

Wang Yi, China's Foreign Minister. [File photo]

Foreign minister's trip this week also expected to boost 'pragmatic cooperation' Visit

Ahead of Foreign Minister Wang Yi's US visit this week, Beijing has noted the US defense deployment in Hawaii, hitting back at the latest US criticism that China's presence on its South China Sea islands is boosting "militarization".

"China's deploying necessary, limited defensive facilities on its own territory is not substantively different from the US defending Hawaii," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Monday.

Hua confirmed at a daily news conference in Beijing that Wang will visit the US from Tuesday to Thursday, and said the visit will see efforts "to deepen pragmatic cooperation and to constructively tackle sensitive issues".

Although Beijing unveiled few details of the schedule, the visit is likely to bring the third meeting within a month between Wang and his counterpart, US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Responding to looming UN sanctions against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea for its rocket launches, Hua said that "China and the US are expected to exchange views on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue during Wang's visit".

All the parties are urged to bring the nuclear issue back onto the track of dialogue, to discuss a dual-track mechanism that seeks both the denuclearization of the peninsula and a shift from truce to peace, Hua added.

Since January, diplomatic contacts between Beijing and Washington have geared up after a US Navy warship incursion into China's territorial waters in the South China Sea and Pyongyang's nuclear test.

Kerry visited China and talked with Wang on Jan 27 in Beijing, and they met again in Munich, Germany, on Feb 12.

Asked what message Beijing will send to Washington on the South China Sea, Hua said the US is expected to be "fully committed to its promise of not taking positions on the relevant disputes".

The US should "stop hyping the South China Sea issue and the tense atmosphere there" and should play a "constructive" role in the region rather than "making an issue", Hua said.

Teng Jianqun, a senior research fellow on US studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said Wang's expected visit is "needed and helpful" for more dialogue to tackle the issues.

Teng said that the US forces "possibly will remain tough and will continue challenging China militarily as they have done recently".

Besides addressing hot spots, the senior diplomats need the meetings to prepare for annual bilateral events, such as the Strategic and Economic Dialogue, and to discuss expected contacts between leaders on international occasions, Teng added.

The Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies said on its website that Wang will address the think tank's "Statesmen's Forum" on Thursday morning local time.

Wang will be part of "a discussion on Chinese foreign policy and US-China relations", the center said.

Jin Canrong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University of China, said that "competition and cooperation co-exist in China-US ties, and the reinforced competition in the South China Sea brings no change to such a big picture".

"The situation in the South China Sea is controllable, and so will it be in the future," Jin said, adding that the US allies in the region, unlike the US, are not likely to resort to military approaches there.