After Joe Biden called Xi Jinping on Chinese New Year’s Eve (February 11, 2021), and they spoke for 2 hours, several of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) primary media published commentaries discussing the CCP’s advice to the Biden administration.
1. Xinhua:
The talk showed three positive signals. The first positive signal was the Chinese New Year’s greeting to each other.
The second positive signal was the willingness to communicate. China and the United States should re-establish a number of dialogue mechanisms to understand each other’s policy intentions accurately and to avoid misunderstandings and miscalculations.
The third positive signal was the identification with the spirit of cooperation.
The Xinhua article also stated, “The Sino-U.S. relationship is at a critical juncture at this moment. The diplomacy by the head of state will have an irreplaceable guiding role (on this issue).”
2. People’s Daily:
(We) must point out, China wants to develop a cooperative relationship with the U.S. but this cooperation must be a cooperation based on principles. Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Xinjiang related issues are China’s internal affair. They are related to China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The U.S. should respect China’s core interests and act with caution.
How to deal with differences is a subject that both China and the U.S. must answer well. … China and the U.S. should re-establish all kinds of dialogue mechanisms to understand each other’s policy intentions accurately and to avoid misunderstandings and miscalculations.
3. Huanqiu (Global Times):
The U.S. briefing also said that Biden started with his New Year wishes to the Chinese people, which was widely seen as Biden’s gesture to show respect to President Xi Jinping and China. He seemed to use that goodwill to balance some tough messages the new U.S. administration has been sending to China and how the public opinion has been interpreting them lately.
Choosing the conversation time at the Chinese New Year’s Eve and starting with a Chinese New Year’s greeting between the two heads of state reaffirmed Biden’s basic attitude of wanting to compete with China with the bottom line of not to turn competition into conflicts.
The Sino-U.S. relation has become more and more complex. The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) announced on February 10 that it would establish a China Working Group to coordinate each of the DOD’s components of China policy and actions. This is an unprecedented mechanism arrangement. It should impact the overall U.S. – China policy. There is a trend of more conflict between China and the U.S. Some U.S. elites have the attitude of “the tougher toward China the better,” but if that keeps developing, the U.S. will face inevitable strategic risk. Therefore, controlling Sino-U.S. differences is a key issue that the Biden administration has no choice but to discuss seriously with China.
1. Excerpt in Chinese:
积极信号之一是互致新春祝福。
积极信号之二是保持沟通意愿。中美双方应该重新建立各种对话机制，准确了解彼此的政策意图，避免误解误判。
积极信号之三是认同合作精神。
当前，中美关系正处于重要关口，元首外交具有不可替代的引领作用。
Source: Xinhua, February 11, 2021
http://www.xinhuanet.com/world/2021-02/11/c_1127094070.htm
2. Excerpt in Chinese:
需要指出的是，中方致力于同美方发展合作关系，但这种合作，必然是有原则的合作。台湾、涉港、涉疆等问题是中国内政，事关中国主权和领土完整，美方应该尊重中国的核心利益，慎重行事。
如何处理分歧，是中美双方必须回答好的一个课题。为了维护两国民众福祉与世界和平稳定，双方都有必要在有不同看法的问题上，做到相互尊重、平等相待，以建设性方式妥善管控和处理。中美双方应该重新建立各种对话机制，准确了解彼此的政策意图，避免误解误判。在这方面，双方曾经积累了大量经验。美国前财长雅克布·卢近日在公开活动中回忆了亲身参与中美战略与经济对话的经历，强调双方要通过对话协商，在有共同目标的领域找到合作方式，在有意见分歧的领域找到改变和进步的路径。此次中美两国元首通话中，拜登总统也表示，美方愿同中方本着相互尊重的精神，开展坦诚和建设性对话，增进相互理解，避免误解误判。应该说，这样的思路如果能够落到实处，将有助于中美关系尽快回归正轨。
事实早已证明，正确的政治决断，是保证中美关系不脱离正确航向的基本前提。多考虑合作，不蓄意对抗，才是两国之福。
Source: People’s Daily, February 14, 2021
http://cpc.people.com.cn/n1/2021/0214/c64387-32029422.html
3. Excerpt in Chinese:
美方的通报也说，拜登一上来就向中国人民表达了他的新年祝福，这被广泛看成拜登向习近平主席和中国表达尊重的姿态。他似乎想用这一善意平衡美国新政府近来传递出的一些对华强硬信息以及舆论对那些信息的解读。
这次两国领导人的通话选在除夕，以两位元首相互拜年开始，再次验证了拜登希望同中国竞争、但给竞争设下不演变成冲突的底线这一基本态度。
中美关系复杂化的趋势越来越明显。美国国防部10日宣告成立中国工作组，要协调国防部各部门的对华政策和行动，这是美国军方前所未有的机制性安排，应该也会对美国的整体对华政策制定产生影响。中美摩擦点呈增多趋势，美国部分精英中存在“对华越强硬越好”的情绪，而那样发展下去显然意味着美国难以承受的战略风险，因而管控中美分歧将是拜登政府不得不认真与中方共同探讨的关键事项。
Source: Huanqiu, February 11, 2021
https://m.huanqiu.com/article/41t9jigLliO