China talks open with Chinese having 'strong dissatisfaction' on US stance on COVID origins: report

China says primary reason for diplomatic stalemate is some Americans portraying China as “imagined enemy.”

The face-to-face talks in China this week between the country and the United States’ top diplomats opened Monday with China blaming the Biden administration for stalled diplomatic relations and having a "highly misguided mindset and dangerous policy."

Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng accused the administration of trying to contain and suppress China’s development, according to an official summary, obtained by the Associated Press, of his remarks to visiting U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry also quoted Xie as saying the primary reason for the stalemate is because some Americans portray China as an "imagined enemy."

Sherman is the United States’ No. 2 diplomat and the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit China since President Biden took office six months ago.

She will have separate meetings with Xie, in charge of U.S.-China relations, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi at a resort hotel in the city of Tianjin, the wire service also reports.

A Foreign Ministry spokesperson also said China had "explicitly requested the U.S. to change course and correct its mistakes" during the talks.

The spokesperson also said China is expressing its "strong dissatisfaction" with U.S. stances on the origin of COVID-19 in that country, China’s pro-democracy crackdown in Hong Kong, claiming the South China Sea as its own, and the treatment of minorities in the county’s Xinjiang region.

The spokesperson said China delivered a long list of demands including withdrawing visa restrictions on Chinese Communist Party members, sanctions on Chinese leaders, officials and government departments, and withdrawing the extradition request for Meng Wanzhou, the Huawei executive who was detained in Canada.

Sherman, who arrived Sunday evening from Mongolia, tweeted America’s "heartfelt condolences to those who have lost loved ones" in severe storms and flooding last week that killed at least 63 people in central China’s Henan province.

Her visit follows a meeting in March in Alaska. Chinese diplomats exchanged angry words with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan, the Associated Press also reports.