In Alaska, Blinken was joined by US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan for what turned into an airing of grievances with top Chinese Communist Party diplomat Yang Jiechi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

At the meeting, Yang said US had a "cold war mentality" and used its military and economic power to "incite other countries to attack China."

Blinken accused China of "threatening the rules-based order that maintains global stability" with its policies on Hong Kong, Taiwan and Xinjiang.

No thaw for frosty US-China relations

China had portrayed the event as the first step towards a détente, following four years of tension under former US President Donald Trump.

Ahead of the talks, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the Chinese diplomats were "invited by the US for a high-level strategic dialogue," which seeks to "bring the China-US relationship back to the right track of sound and steady development."

However, Blinken rejected that notion in front of the House Foreign Affairs Committee last week.

"This is not a strategic dialogue. There's no intent at this point for a series of follow-on engagements," he said.

Biden continues Trump's hard line on China

At this point, "tangible outcomes" from Beijing over Washington's concerns about human rights, democracy and strategic stability seem far off.

The US recently slammed Beijing's crackdown on Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement.

Blinken also did not change the Trump administration's designation of "genocide" [Jan. 19, 2021] applied to China's mass-internment of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang province.

On strategic issues, the US says Beijing continues to defy international maritime law in the South China Sea by claiming sovereignty over most of the waterways and building up the People's Liberation Army to back up these claims.

US military officials are also warning of the threat of military conflict over Taiwan, which Beijing considers a breakaway province, and has long been a sore point in US-China relations.

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