US and China trade barbs after Blinken warns of need to respect global order or face a 'more violent world'

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told senior Chinese officials on Thursday that he and national security adviser Jake Sullivan intend to discuss the Biden administration's "deep concerns" about some of China's actions around the world and in return met with immediate pushback from their Chinese counterparts that sparked an unusual and at times prickly diplomatic exchange.

The key first meeting in the relationship that Blinken has called "the biggest geopolitical test of the 21st century" quickly veered away from the usual diplomatic throat clearing that takes place in front of the cameras before the real meetings get underway. As the two sides traded unusually intense remarks, Blinken called the cameras back to counter the Chinese officials' comments -- particularly their slights about US democracy -- setting off an unexpected chain of rebuttals as each side responded to the others' remarks. Blinken had initially said the US intends to defend the "rules-based order" without which there would be a "much more violent world" and said that Chinese activities in places like Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as its cyber attacks on the US and economic coercion of US allies, "threaten the rules-based order that maintains global stability. That's why they're not merely internal matters, and why we feel an obligation to raise these issues here today."