China State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that China and the US need to establish a dialogue at all levels and manage their differences. The senior Chinese diplomat said the two nations need to hold constructive dialogue for them to work on issues like climate change and the coronavirus pandemic.
The relationship between the US and China has reached its lowest point as the two have been bitterly confronting over issues like trade, China's lack of transparency about the origins of the coronavirus and China violating human rights by detaining Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang province. China's moves to expand territorial claims over the South China Sea and Beijing passing the national security law on Hong Kong, threatening the city's semi-autonomous status, have also escalated tension between China and the US.
US President Joe Biden on February 17 said that China will face repercussions for human rights violations in the Uighur region. "Over the past few years, the US basically cut off bilateral dialogue at all levels. And this was one of the main reasons for the deterioration in China-US relations," Wang Yi told Reuters. Biden has also voiced concerns over Beijing's 'coercive and unfair' trade practices and has vowed to take a multilateral approach to tackle issues like climate change and persuade North Korea to give up nuclear weapons.