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On February 14-15, US Secretary of State John Kerry met with Chinese leaders and high-level officials in Beijing. Compared with his previous trip to Beijing ten month ago, the environment of this visit was more complicated. It was widely believed that the aim of his visit was to address problems with China and regulate China’s behaviors.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with visiting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 14, 2014. [Xinhua/Pang Xinglei]

Before his visit, the Western media hyped China threat and fueled the sentiment for increasing the pressure on Chinese government. The focuses of the critics were China’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) and China’s “assertiveness” towards its neighbors, especially those involved in territorial disputes.

Some US officials also expressed opposition and concern about China’s ADIZ and territorial disputes. On February 4 at a House Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats, Director of the US National Intelligence James Clapper said that China’s aggressive pursuit of territorial claims in the seas of East Asia was causing great concern among countries in the region.

In this context, John Kerry was expected to urge China to take actions to ease the tension with neighboring countries and clarify its territorial claims. He did talk with the Chinese side about the issue of ADIZ during his visit. He has reiterated the US positions which included two perspectives. The first was that the US viewed China’s establishment of the ADIZ as a unilateral action that would undermine regional stability. In this regard, the US opposed China’s East China Sea ADIZ and warned China not to take the option of setting up another ADIZ in South China Sea. The other perspective of Washington’s intention was that the US was seeking certain influence in China’s policy making. The US made it clear that it disapproved China’s announcement of the plan without any previous communication or consultation with other countries, of course, including the US. The US wanted China to adhere to the highest standards of notice, engagement, involvement, information sharing. By this way, the US would be able to interfere in or at least prepare for China’s decisions.

As for the territorial disputes, John Kerry emphasized that China should resolve the problems in a peaceful way and adhere to the international law, especially the law of the sea. The implication of this remark was that the US would not approve China’s deterrence against other claimants by showing off its strengthening muscles.

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