By Bonnie Kristian
There was a "strong smell of gunpowder and drama" at US-China talks in Alaska last week, said Chinese Foreign Ministry representative Zhao Lijian in Beijing last week.
"It was not the original intention of the Chinese side" to have a contentious meeting, Zhao told reporters, but US diplomats, led by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, "provoked" conflict with "groundless attacks."
The State Department's review of the affair was equally bleak: "The Chinese delegation," an unnamed US official told Reuters, "seems to have arrived intent on grandstanding, focused on public theatrics and dramatics over substance."
This piece was originally published in Financial Times on March 26, 2021. Read more HERE.