US top diplomat Blinken calls for ‘level playing field’ for firms in China

Al Jazeera:

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on China to treat US businesses fairly as the top diplomat kicked off a three-day trip aimed at shoring up a recent stabilisation of ties between Washington and Beijing.

Blinken met the Chinese Communist Party secretary for Shanghai, Chen Jining, on Thursday amid differences between the sides on thorny issues including Russia, Taiwan and trade.

Blinken raised concerns about China’s “trade policies and non-market economic practices” and expressed hope for a “level playing field for US workers and firms operating in China”, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said

Chen, who welcomed Blinken partly in English, spoke of the importance of US businesses in China and said the choice of “cooperation or confrontation affects the wellbeing of both peoples, both countries and the future of humanity”.

Blinken arrived in China on Wednesday just hours after US President Joe Biden signed into law a package providing billions of dollars in assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

The legislation sets aside $8bn to counter Chinese threats in Taiwan and the broader Asia Pacific, as well as giving China’s ByteDance nine months to sell video-sharing app TikTok with a possible three-month extension if a sale is in progress.