US urges China to engage in Taiwan dialogue

The State Department says China should start engaging in "meaningful dialogue with Taiwan's democratically elected leadership."

This comes after China’s top foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi urged closer ties with the U.S. under the Biden administration, while saying Washington must “effectively respect China’s position and concerns on the Taiwan issue.”

The U.S. should fulfill its commitments to Beijing “abide by the one-China principle, and effectively respect China’s position and concerns on the Taiwan issue,” Yang said.

The head of the ruling Communist Party’s office on foreign affairs, Yang Jiechi, said the sides will have their differences but should not allow them to derail relations.

The positive tone fuels perceptions that China’s leaders are hoping for a fresh start in relations and a more civil discourse with Washington, even while deep divisions remain.

"We are in serious competition with China. Strategic competition is the frame through which we see that relationship," said State Department spokesperson Ned Price.

"We know that China is engaged in a range of conduct that hurts American workers. It blunts our technological edge. It threatens our alliances and influence in international organizations. And China is engaged in gross human rights violations that shock the conscience."

Ties sunk under the Trump administration to a new low over differences on trade, human rights and Taiwan, the self-governing democracy that China claims as its own territory and threatens to bring under its control by military force.

The U.S. is pressing China over trade, allegations of intellectual property theft and policies toward Tibet, Muslim minorities in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.

China resents U.S. support for Taiwan along with the U.S. military presence in the South China Sea and what it sees as a broad-based U.S. campaign to restrain its growth.

Price also congratulated Kosovo and Israel on establishing diplomatic ties between the two nations.

With Monday’s agreement, Kosovo is to become just the third country after the U.S. and Guatemala to have its embassy located in Jerusalem.

It also is the first European or Muslim-majority country to do so. Most countries' embassies are in Tel Aviv.

The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed, as the capital of a future state.

Most of the international community does not recognize the Israeli annexation of east Jerusalem and says the competing claims to the city should be resolved through negotiations.

"We hope that Israel and other countries in the region join together in a common effort to build bridges and create new avenues for dialogue," said Price.

"These efforts contribute to tangible progress towards the goal of advancing a negotiated peace between Israelis and Palestinians."

(Image Credit: AP)