As senior Chinese diplomats Yang Jiechi and Wang Yi prepare to attend a high-level strategic dialogue with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in Alaska on Thursday and Friday, how have the U.S. officials been talking about China? 

Blinken has earlier said China is the "biggest geopolitical test" the United States faces in the 21st century. In outlining the Biden administration's foreign policy priorities, he said China is the only country with the economic, diplomatic, military and technological power to seriously challenge the international system. 

Citing eight foreign policy priorities including democracy, immigration, the pandemic and the economic crisis, Blinken said the China-U.S. relationship will be "competitive when it should be, collaborative when it can be, and adversarial when it must be." 

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In response, Beijing said China brings opportunities instead of challenges to the world. Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, responded to Blinken's speech at a routine press briefing, saying that China's development is a contribution to world peace and development, and such ideological cliches would not do the U.S. any good.  

Similar to his predecessor Mike Pompeo, Blinken has been critical of China on almost every front. On COVID-19, Blinken said China hasn't been transparent since its outbreak to now. On Xinjiang, he agreed with Pompeo and claimed genocide is being committed there, calling on China to provide international access to the region. And on Hong Kong, he recently said the U.S. will take action against what he calls "violations of human rights" there. 

Despite the criticisms, Blinken is not closing the door to cooperation with China. For example, he said that "battling climate change will be in the interest of both countries." Analysts have said the U.S. needs China to make progress on issues such as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. 

Unlike Blinken, Sullivan has been relatively quiet on China. Back in 2017, he said the U.S. should encourage China's rise. And in 2019, he said Trump's tariff tactics against China weren't working. He said "we are focused on steel, soy, coal. China is focused on quantum computing, AI, and biotechnology. They are not focused on the growth of the next quarter, but the growth of the next quarter-century." 

In January, Sullivan said the U.S. should work with its European allies to address what he calls "trade and technology abuses" by China. He also said the U.S. should be prepared to impose costs on China for "its threats to Taiwan, as well as its actions in Hong Kong and Xinjiang."  

Asked about the upcoming meeting in Alaska, Sullivan said tariffs will not take center stage in the talks. He said this is a message to China that Washington will engage with Beijing at a strategic level.  

(Cover: U.S. President Joe Biden, accompanied by Secretary of State Antony Blinken (C) and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan (L), attends a meeting at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 1, 2021. /AP)