US working to ensure competition with China doesn’t turn into conflict: Antony Blinken on trade war

Colorado [US], July 24 (ANI): Highlighting the trade war between the US and China, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the Washington is working to ensure that competition with Beijing doesn't turn into a conflict between the two biggest economies. 
“We are working to put some stability in the relationship, to put a floor under the relationship, to make sure that the competition that we’re in doesn’t turn into conflict, which would not be in our interest, their interest, or anyone else’s,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.
Blinken in the interview which aired on Sunday said efforts start with “strengthening our lines of communication – talking, engaging, working through, as best we can, our profound differences, and at least being clear about them so that there are not misunderstandings of intent, and at the same time looking to see if there are areas where we can cooperate.”
The US State Secretary was speaking on the sidelines of the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.
Blinken said: “There’s a clear demand signal that I’m hearing around the world, everywhere I go, that each of us – the United States and China – will responsibly manage this relationship, because of course that has an impact not just on us but on countries around the world.  That’s exactly what we’re doing, and I think China’s heard that demand signal as well."
Blinken recently visited China on a two-day official visit, becoming the US' first Secretary of State in five years to make a visit to Beijing.
His visit was followed by similar trips by other high-level Biden administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and US climate envoy John Kerry.
Speaking on his visit, Blinken said: “So I had hours of conversation with my Chinese counterparts when I was in Beijing. Janet Yellen, the Treasury Secretary, was there, did the same thing. John Kerry was just there. Jake Sullivan’s been engaged.  And all of this is a process of trying to at least put some stability into this and to see if we can be very clear both about our differences and where we can cooperate.”
The US State Secretary said he was clear with his Chinese counterparts that the US will continue to do and say things that China will not like, just as they’re going to continue to do and say things the US won’t like. 
“The test for us is whether we can manage our way through that to make sure that we sustain these lines of communication, that we continue to talk, and that we work on, as I said, both dealing with the differences and seeing if we can cooperate.  That’s the way we’re approaching it.  I think it’s the responsible thing to do,” Blinken said.
Blinken further said that the US and China are having talks on various issues.
“We have different groups that are engaged or about to engage on discrete issues that are problems in the relationship where I believe we can, I think, get to a resolution. At the same time, there are a number of areas where it’s clearly in our interest to see if we can find ways to cooperate.  We’re starting to talk about that,” he said.
Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Janet L Yellen recently concluded her Beijing visit with no announcement of developments or agreements for improving the ongoing rifts between the two countries, The New York Times reported.
She indulged in ten hours of meetings over two days and then left for Washington.
Neither Yellen nor Chinese officials changed their stances on important policy issues, leaving the two sides facing the prospect of more conflicts over trade, investment and technology.
US-China ties have been deteriorating over the year. There are various points of tension including the war in Ukraine, a Chinese spy balloon that flew over US territory and was shot down by the American military, and the two countries' escalating exchange of restrictions on trade, reported NYT.
Voice of America (VOA) recently reported that the Chinese Communist Party is using coercive economic practices to achieve worldwide dominance over America, US lawmakers accused.
The accusations came at a hearing of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party days after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with Chinese officials in Beijing to discuss the nations’ economic relationship.
The diplomatic relations between China and US have been downgraded since the Chinese spy balloon incident. (ANI)