China says U.S. failing to meet agreements from Biden-Xi summit

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi accused the U.S. of flouting agreements reached during a November summit between President Joe Biden and Xi Jinping, in the latest signal that efforts to ease tensions had stalled.

Wang protested what he said were U.S. efforts to interfere with the Beijing Olympics next week in a call with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to a statement posted on the Foreign Ministry’s website Thursday. The senior Chinese diplomat also cited U.S. support for Taiwan, as well as Washington’s efforts to build “small circles” of like-minded nations to counter Beijing.

“What the world has seen is that the basic tone of the U.S.’s China policy has not had any fundamental change, and the U.S. side has not materialized Biden’s position,” Wang said. “The U.S. has continued with its wrongful words and deeds, bringing new shocks to bilateral ties.”

The Chinese account of the call struck a more negative tone than the State Department’s 80-word summary, which focused on the risk of any Russian action in Ukraine. Blinken and Wang also “exchanged views on how to advance work together,” the department said, citing strategic risk, health security and climate change as among the topics discussed.

Tensions between the U.S. and China receded after the video summit between Biden and Xi, the first such formal gathering between the two leaders. Still, in recent days the two sides have increasingly traded barbs over the Biden administration’s efforts to organize a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Games to protest suppression of the predominately Muslim Uyghur population in Xinjiang.