US, China top diplomats trade rebukes in testy first talks

Depth of divide between two global giants publicly exposed as talks get under way in snowy Anchorage.

The United States and China traded sharp rebukes of each others’ policies on Thursday in the first high-level, in-person talks since Joe Biden took office, with the deep strain in the relations between the two global rivals on rare public display during the meeting’s opening session in Alaska. China’s actions “threaten the rules-based order that maintains global stability,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at the opening of the two-day meeting in Anchorage. The US side will “discuss our deep concerns with actions by China, including Xinjiang,” where Washington has accused Beijing of “genocide” against Uighur Muslims, Blinken told the Chinese Communist Party’s top diplomacy official, Yang Jiechi, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.