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On the afternoon of June 19, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Beijing, bringing to a close the highest-level U.S. official's visit to China in the past five years. The short trip of around 38 hours has become the most eye-catching news in domestic and foreign media for the past two days. With a little sorting, it is not hard to discover that "stability" is the keyword of reports on Blinken's visit.

During the meeting, President Xi emphasized that the world needs a generally stable China-U.S. relationship and whether the two countries can find the right way to get along bears on the future and destiny of humanity. Blinken, on his part, affirmed President Joe Biden's belief that the United States and China have an obligation to responsibly manage their relations, adding that this is in the interests of the United States, China and the world.

Indeed, an overall stable China-U.S. tie serves the interests of all parties and the needs of world development, but harmonious, stable and sustainable relations need to be built on the basis of mutual respect and understanding, equal dialogue and communication, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.

For a long time, regardless of the external environment, China has never closed the door to communication. China's agreement to welcome Blinken's visit and holding high-level talks demonstrate China's full sincerity and goodwill towards the U.S.

Prior to Blinken's visit to China, several high-profile figures from the U.S., including Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, and Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, had visited China consecutively. China has expressed that it welcomes such visits and proposed that more interaction and communication to enhance mutual understanding are important foundations for the development of bilateral relations. China is also creating conditions for the restoration of vitality in the people-to-people exchanges between the two countries with practical actions.

Just as Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, underscored during his meeting with Blinken, the root cause of the current low point in China-U.S. relations lies in U.S. misperceptions toward China, which has led to misguided China policies.

In the past year, the Biden administration has been intensively deploying military forces in the region, adopting a tough economic and technological policy, and frequently engaging in ideological diplomacy, which has almost pushed China-U.S. relations to the brink of all-out confrontation.

Just before Blinken's visit, U.S. media and officials were still spreading rumors about "China building a spy station in Cuba." Moreover, the U.S. Treasury Department also imposed sanctions on some Chinese companies and individuals on the "Specially Designated Nationals List" for their alleged involvement in Iran's missile and military programs.

Using the metaphor previously used by Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang, "This is like the first button in a shirt being put wrong. And the result is that the U.S.'s China policy has entirely deviated from the rational and sound track."

As Ryan Hass, researcher of the Foreign Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, said, both China and the U.S. "appear to be probing whether it's possible to build a more functional and predictable relationship." This also reflects the expectations of many in the American business and academic communities and other social sectors for a relaxation of tensions in China-U.S. relations.

In fact, whether China-U.S. relations can return to the track of stability, and whether the U.S. can button up the "first wrongly-fastened button" are the key issues.

By damaging China's legitimate rights and interests and promoting great power competition with a Cold War mentality, the United States cannot solve its own problems and the challenges facing the world. This approach also represents a complete lack of responsibility towards history, its own people, and the world.

One detail worth observing in President Xi's meeting with Blinken is that the lotus flowers placed in the center of the meeting table were very noticeable. The Chinese word for "lotus" sounds like the words for "peace" and "harmony." Facing a future full of many uncertainties, Beijing hopes that China and the U.S. can coexist peacefully and cooperate for win-win results, so as to inject more stability, certainty and constructiveness into a turbulent and intertwined world.

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