The 2-day talks between the US and China opened in Anchorage, Alaska on March 18 with the US represented by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and NSA Jake Sullivan and China by Politburo member and Director of the Central Foreign Affairs Committee Yang Jiechi and State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. There was a fiery opening exchange between the two in the presence of journalists. US Secretary of State Blinken recalled then Vice President Biden's remark to then Vice President Xi Jinping that "It's never a good bet to bet against America." NSA Jake Sullivan then said: "A confident country is able to look hard at its own shortcomings, and constantly seek to improve." In his opening 18-minute-long response to Blinken, Yang Jiechi asserted that by 2035 China will achieve basic modernisation and by 2050 full modernisation. He said "China follows a UN-centered international system and not what is advocated by a small group of countries of the so-called rules-based international order". He added that "wars in this world are launched by some other countries which have resulted in massive casualties", but China follows a path of peaceful development. "We do not believe in invading through the use of force or to topple other regimes through various means" adding that "and at the end of the day all of those would not serve the United States well". He said many people have little confidence in the democracy of the US. Reiterating that "Xinjiang , Tibet and Taiwan are an inalienable part of Chinese territory", he expressed the hope that the US would do better on human rights. In the matter of cyber attacks he said "Whether it's ability to launch cyber attacks, or technologies that could be deployed, the US is the champion... You can't blame this problem on somebody else." Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi took objection to the tone of remarks in the opening speeches from the US side and said it appeared to have been carefully planned and orchestrated and the Chinese had thought they would observe all the diplomatic protocols. He said the US was not qualified to talk to the Chinese people from a position of strength 20 or even 30 years ago and cannot do so now. If the US "wants to deal properly with the Chinese side then let us follow the necessary protocols and do things the right way". A senior US Administration later made the statement: "We will use the remaining hours to outline for Chinese delegation in private same messages delivered in public. Chinese delegation, on other hand, seems intent on grandstanding, focused on public theatrics and dramatics... "They made that clear by promptly violating protocol; we had agreed to short (two-minute) opening statements by each principal...".
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