China tells Blinken to choose between stability and a "downward spiral" when he is in Beijing.

Leader of China Xi Jinping stated that China and the US should be “partners rather than adversaries” 

at a meeting with senior US diplomat Antony Blinken on Friday in Beijing's expansive Great Hall of the People.

The discussion, which happened on the last day of Blinken's three-day visit to China, came at a time when both nations are trying to improve their tense relations and increase communication, especially on a range of issues from Taiwan to technology. 

 China wants to see a prosperous, open, and self-assured United States. We expect that China's progress would be seen favorably by the United States," Xi said to Blinken.

"Since this basic issue is resolved, Sino-US ties will genuinely improve and advance," he declared. "China and the US should support one another's success rather than work against it; we should be partners rather than enemies."  

In response to Beijing's perceived attempts to stifle its development, Washington has taken steps in the name of national security that have angered Chinese officials, who are displeased with Xi's remarks. These have included restrictions on US investment in specific high-tech Chinese industries as well as US prohibitions on the transfer of advanced technology products that may be used in military applications to China.

US President Joe Biden signed a law on Wednesday that, if the social media network TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance does not sell it, might result in a statewide ban. Beijing has previously opposed this legislation.

In order to "avoid any miscommunications, misperceptions, or miscalculations," Blinken informed Xi that the US was "determined to maintain and strengthen lines of communications" with China.  Blinken listed "restoring military-to-military communications,

 counternarcotics, and thinking jointly about the futures of artificial intelligence" as examples of recent advancements.  Following five hours of face time that both Blinken and Wang Yi described as "substantive and fruitful," they had their meeting.

However, Wang also made it apparent that there are still severe differences between the two superpowers in the world. Wang stated that China and the US must decide between stability and a "downward spiral" as their talks got began.

Should China and the US continue on their current path of stability-focused growth, or should they revert to a negative trajectory? After stating that US-China relations were "starting to stabilize," Wang told Blinken during a meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse,

 "This is a major question facing our two countries, and challenges our sincerity and capacity."  Should our two sides spearhead worldwide cooperation in the fight against global issues and ensure that everyone wins? Through an interpreter, he said, "Or engage in rivalry and confrontation- or perhaps fall into conflict, which would be a lose-lose for everyone."

Later, in a meeting behind closed doors, Wang charged that the US was exaggerating recent worries about China's industrial "overcapacity" flooding international markets and was "taking endless efforts to stifle China's economy, commerce, research and technology." 

 According to a readout from Chinese official media, he stated, "(US actions are) not fair competition, but containment, and it is not removing dangers, but generating risks."

Blinken mentioned a "shared obligation" between the two nations to "make sure that we are as honest as possible about the areas where we have differences" in remarks he made to Wang prior to the closed-door meeting. 

 "I hope we can make some progress on the subjects that our presidents agreed we should work together on, but we also need to be very open about our differences and intentions with one another," Blinken stated.

Following a period of extreme tension, President Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met for a summit in California in November. This trip is the most recent in a series of high-level encounters.  Following the meeting, 

the US State Department said that the two sides also talked about the next steps toward advancing their commitments to advance counternarcotics cooperation, military-to-military communication, artificial intelligence risks and safety, and people-to-people exchanges.

Following his meetings, Blinken told reporters that the two nations would have their first discussions on artificial intelligence and its concerns "in the coming weeks."