BEIJING -- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo got an earful from senior Chinese officials during a five-hour visit to Beijing on Monday, bearing the brunt of the increasingly acrimonious relationship between the two governments.
Pompeo is the most senior official to meet with his Chinese counterparts since President Donald Trump accused Beijing of interfering in November's midterm elections and since Vice President Mike Pence gave a speech accusing Beijing of seeking to undermine U.S. interests around the globe.
Pompeo felt the full force of the dispute during meetings with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and with Yang Jiechi, a Politburo member who has long dealt with bilateral relations.
In the first meeting, Wang told Pompeo that the Trump administration's recent actions against China have "directly impacted our mutual trust and cast a shadow over our bilateral relations."
Pompeo is on a tour around Asia that's mainly focused on North Korea's nuclear program. But upon arrival in Beijing, the agenda swiftly pivoted to the dispute between the two nations, sparked by Trump's trade war and fueled by his allegations that the Chinese government is interfering in next month's midterm elections.
"We urge the U.S. to stop such misguided activities," Wang said. He cited the "escalation" of trade friction, favorable treatment of Taiwan, and criticism of "China's internal and external policies."
"We believe that we need to keep our relationship on the right track," a stern-faced Wang told his American counterpart.
At Pompeo's second meeting, Yang protested the "unwarranted actions from the U.S. side" and said China "will take all necessary measures to safeguard" itself against anything the United States might do. He did, however, strike a slightly more conciliatory tone, urging the United States to expand cooperation and "meet China halfway."
The secretary of state responded by saying that Washington and Beijing were stuck in a "fundamental disagreement" that he hoped they could make some progress on resolving. He lamented China's recent decision not to attend the strategic dialogue between the two countries' defense secretaries, planned for the middle of this month, saying the forum is an "important opportunity" for discussion.
The polite but edgy tone underscored the plunge in U.S.-Chinese relations as the Trump administration confronts Beijing over its technology policies and territorial claims in the South China Sea. Trump also approved a weapons sale to Taiwan, the self-ruled island that the Communist mainland claims as its own territory, and sanctioned a Chinese company and its leader over an arms purchase from Russia.
Unlike a similar trip by Pompeo in June, Chinese President Xi Jinping granted no audience to the U.S. secretary of state. When asked earlier Monday whether Xi had declined a meeting because of disagreements between the two sides, Pompeo said, "I expect they'll also raise the issues that they're happy with." There previously had been slots in the schedule for three meetings, but Pompeo had only two.
Separately, it emerged that Xi would soon make his first visit as president to North Korea. He will visit "soon," South Korean President Moon Jae-in said at a Cabinet meeting Monday.
China's public show of displeasure represented one of the strongest signs yet that the widening list of disputes between the U.S. and China could undermine their cooperation on North Korea. Beijing is Pyongyang's biggest international benefactor, and Trump has repeatedly suggested that his trade war with China was leading the country to relax pressure on the regime.
N. KOREA CONCERNS
Although China's Foreign Ministry said at a news briefing Monday that broader tensions wouldn't undermine cooperation on North Korea, Wang told Pompeo that the issue illustrated the importance of maintaining a working relationship.
"I know that you would like to discuss the North Korea issue and other relational issues with me on this visit," Wang said. "This speaks to the fact that two major powers and permanent members of the U.N. Security Council need to and should increase communication and cooperation, taking on responsibilities in international society."
Two of the five people on the American side of the meeting table dealt with issues involving North Korea: National Security Council adviser Allison Hooker and Stephen Biegun, the new special representative for North Korea.
Pompeo spent about 3½ hours with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang on Sunday, in a formal meeting and then at lunch. Pompeo later described the talks as "productive" and "another step forward" in negotiations to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program.
In Seoul, Pompeo said he and Kim had agreed to soon begin working-level talks on details of denuclearization and placement of international inspectors at one of North Korea's main nuclear facilities.
Pompeo also said they came close to finalizing a date and venue for the next Kim-Trump meeting.
Pompeo said he and Kim had gotten "pretty close" to fixing the logistics for the summit, but he stressed that "sometimes that last inch is hard to close."
"Most importantly, both the leaders believe there is real progress that can be made, substantive progress that can be made at the next summit, and so we are going to get it at a time that works for each of the two leaders and at a place that works for both of them," Pompeo told reporters in South Korea.
The Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim had "warmly welcomed" Pompeo in Pyongyang and "spoke highly of him."
Kim said progress is being made to implement the agreements he reached with Trump at their June summit in Singapore, according to the news agency. Kim also expressed his gratitude to Trump, adding that agreement had been reached to hold a second summit "as soon as possible."
During Pompeo's meeting in Pyongyang, Kim also invited inspectors to visit the Punggye-ri nuclear test site to "confirm that it has been irreversibly dismantled," the State Department said.
Pompeo said this could happen "as soon as we get it logistically worked out," adding: "Chairman Kim said he's ready to allow them to come in."
The secretary of state also confirmed that inspectors would be invited to a separate missile-test site at Tongchang-ri but declined to comment on which organization might be allowed into either site.
Pompeo said Kim is expected to soon name Deputy Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui as a counterpart to Biegun. Pompeo and Biegun both said they expected meetings at the working level to begin soon and to become quite frequent before the next summit.
"We are starting to see a first wave of actions we can take on all four pillars of the Singapore communique," said Biegun. He is to work with South Korea, Japan, China, Russia and other countries that have an interest in the talks.
WEEKS OF TENSION
But for all the new momentum on dealing with North Korea, it was the relationship between the U.S. and China that dominated the discussions in Beijing on Monday.
Relations between Beijing and Washington have taken a sharp turn for the worse in the past month, as the tit-for-tat trade war has seen both sides slapping tariffs on a broad range of each others' products, with both sides vowing to stand their ground.
The Global Times, a state-run newspaper that often reflects the thinking of the Communist Party, linked the U.S. actions to a broader push to contain China and stem its rise.
"United States, please respect the development rights of China's vast society," the paper said in an editorial published after Pompeo's meetings. "Preventing 1.4 billion people from becoming prosperous and rich is morally despicable, and cannot work in reality."
That trade war has now overflowed into other areas.
The supposedly autonomous Chinese territory of Hong Kong last month declined a scheduled port visit by a U.S. Navy ship, and a Chinese admiral canceled a planned visit to the United States. Last week, China pulled out of the top-level defense meeting.
Meanwhile, Trump has accused Beijing of "interfering" in the coming midterms by running a four-page editorial-style supplement in the Des Moines Register, trying to tap into Iowa farmers' frustration over the tariffs.
China hit back angrily, implying that it is the United States that has a track record of interfering in other countries' business.
Then in a sharply critical speech last week, Pence issued a broad indictment of the methods behind China's rise to becoming a major economic power, asserting that Beijing has sought to undermine U.S. interests around the world.
Trump "will not back down" from the challenge, Pence said, adding that China "wants a different American president" and that the nation "is interfering in America's democracy" ahead of the midterm elections.
Information for this article was contributed by Anna Fifield, Simon Denyer and Yang Liu of The Washington Post; by staff members of The Associated Press; and by staff members of Bloomberg News.
A Section on 10/09/2018