China urges end to ‘microphone diplomacy’ over U.S. differences

Differences between the United States and China over the South China Sea and cyber security should not be addressed by “microphone diplomacy” but in “a proper way” to allow for a successful U.S. visit by President Xi Jinping this year, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Wednesday. Wu Xi, deputy chief of mission at the Chinese embassy in Washington, said individual issues should not be allowed to overshadow the overall U.S.- China relationship and that common interests, including bilateral trade volume of $550 billion last year, “far outweigh” differences between the countries.

Resorting to microphone diplomacy, or pointing fingers at each other, will not solve any problems.

Wu Xi, deputy chief of mission at the Chinese embassy in Washington

Wu was referring to disagreements between Washington and Beijing over China’s increasingly assertive pursuit of territorial claims in the South China Sea, which have raised fears of military confrontation, and a massive cyber attack on the U.S. government that U.S. officials have blamed on Chinese hackers. China has called the hacking allegations irresponsible and says it has the right to build artificial islands in contested territory. Wu said the two sides should use the annual meeting of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue from June 22-24, and a U.S. visit this week of a top Chinese military official, “to articulate the outcome and deliverables” for Xi’s September visit to Washington.

Politics