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June 19 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken topped off a two-day visit to China on Monday with a meeting with President Xi Jinping, the first high-level contact between the two superpowers since November. Blinken said in a press conference following the meeting that he had held an "important" conversation with Xi and "candid, substantive and constructive discussions" with his counterparts, foreign affairs advisor Wang Yi and Foreign Minister Qin Gang.
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"In every meeting I stressed that direct engagement and sustained communication at senior levels is the best way to responsibly manage our differences and ensure that competition does not veer into conflict and I heard the same from my Chinese counterparts," said Blinken.
"We both agree on the need to stabilize our relationship."
Blinken said during a "robust" conversation about regional and global challenges the Chinese side had given assurances China would not supply lethal aid for use against Ukraine and spoke about North Korea's "increasingly reckless actions and rhetoric," urging Beijing to use its unique position to press Pyongyang to "act responsibly, stop launching missiles and engage on its nuclear program."
While he had reiterated the United States' One China policy, opposition to Taiwan independence and any unilateral changes to the status quo by either side, Blinken said he raised concerns about China's "provocative actions in the Taiwan Strait and South and East China seas."
Blinken said that he stressed to the Chinese that the United States "continued to expect the peaceful resolution of cross-strait differences," but said he had made it clear Washington remained committed to ensuring Taiwan had the ability to defend itself, as required by the Taiwan Relations Act.
On the economic rivalry between the two powers, Blinken said China's "broad economic success" was also good for the United States and thus was not seeking to "contain" its economic rise, but instead to de-risk and diversify.
"That means pushing for level playing fields for our workers and companies, defending against harmful trade practices, and protecting our critical technologies so that they aren't used against us."
Xi hailed the summit saying the two sides had reached agreement on some specific issues which he said was "very good."
"The Chinese side has made our position clear and the two sides have agreed to follow through on the common understanding that President [Joe] Biden and I had reached in Bali," Xi said.
The pair met on the sidelines of a meeting of the G20 in Bali in November and agreed to take concrete steps to repair the relationship including a visit to Beijing by Blinken, the first by a U.S. secretary of state in five years.
Xi also called on Blinken to do more to improve relations.
"I hope that, through this visit, you will make more positive contributions to stabilizing China-U.S. relations," he said.
The meeting, which was confirmed at the last minute by officials from both the U.S. State Department and China's Foreign Ministry, followed a three-hour meeting Monday morning with Wang Yi, and seven-and-a-half-hours of talks on Sunday between Blinken and Qin Gang.
State television earlier confirmed the meeting in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
The Blinken-Xi head-to-head came with U.S.-China relations at a low point following spats over Taiwan, China's expansionist ambitions in the South China Sea and the shooting down of a Chinese spy balloon over the United States and is not expected to produce any fresh agreements.
Emerging from his meeting with Blinken earlier, Wang blamed the United States' "wrong perception" of his country for the poor state of relations between Washington and Beijing.
Wang also said that Taiwan represented a "core" interest for China and that Beijing has "no room" to compromise its stance.
Blinken's trip to Beijing came at a "critical juncture in China-U.S. relations, and it is necessary to make a choice between dialogue or confrontation, cooperation or conflict," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
"We must reverse the downward spiral of China-U.S. relations, promote a return to a healthy and stable track and jointly find the right way for China and the United States to co-exist in the new era," Wang said.
