US and Chinese diplomats will meet Thursday in Alaska for their first face-to-face talks since President Joe Biden took office, with the world's top two powers set to discuss a laundry list of issues on which they diverge broadly.

Tensions between Washington and Beijing remain high after relations were pitched into turmoil during Donald Trump's presidency, which saw a damaging trade war and spats over everything from defense to tech and rights in Hong Kong.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan are set for talks with senior Chinese official Yang Jiechi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi later Thursday.

With its frigid temperatures and remote, Pacific location, Anchorage was considered a more neutral meeting ground than Washington or Beijing for the three-session summit that finishes Friday morning.

But expectations are limited on both sides.

"We're coming to these discussions clear eyed about China's unsettling track record of failure to keep its promises," said a US spokeswoman, vowing to call out China's actions that "challenge the security, prosperity, and values of the United States."

- 'No room for compromise' -

As the diplomats landed in Alaska ahead of the talks, a foreign ministry spokesman in Beijing issued a warning to Washington.

"China has no room for compromise on issues concerning its sovereignty, security and core interests," spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters.

Zhao urged the United States against talking tough and engaging in "megaphone diplomacy" toward China after Washington said it intended to show its firmness against Beijing after a round of alliance-building across Asia.

"The US should meet China halfway and conduct the dialogue in a sincere and constructive manner," Zhao said.

Bonnie Glaser, director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the talks would have a limited impact.

"They will probe whether there is common ground on some issues and whether there are ways to manage and even narrow their differences," she told AFP.

"Expectations should remain low. A reset of the relationship is not in the cards."

The last meeting between the two rivals in June did nothing to help thaw frosty relations that resembled a new Cold War by the end of Trump's time in office.

Biden has maintained a tough line on China, and Blinken has said it represents America's "biggest geopolitical test of the 21st century."

Still, the Biden team has said it wants to engage diplomatically on the world stage, in a pivot from Trump's isolationist and ally-berating stance, particularly on issues such as climate change, the pandemic and the non-proliferation of weapons.

- 'Coercion' -

Thursday's meeting follows a visit Blinken made to Japan and South Korea, two key US allies in the Asia-Pacific region.

While in Tokyo, Blinken warned China against using "coercion and destabilizing behavior."

Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also attended a key summit between leaders of the so-called Quad alliance, which groups the US, Australia, Japan and India as a check on China's ambitions.

Blinken and allies have criticized China on a slew of issues, including the erosion of autonomy in Hong Kong, tensions around Taiwan and Tibet, the treatment of the Uighur population in Xinjiang, Beijing's sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea, the theft of intellectual property and a lack of transparency over the origins of Covid-19.

"It is a long litany of disagreements we have with the People's Republic of China," a State Department spokesman said last week. "It is not just our litany. It is not just our list."

Elizabeth Economy, a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, said that while the Biden administration has moved away from Trump's inflammatory rhetoric, temperatures remain high.

"Beijing will not back off on Xinjiang or Hong Kong -- these are issues of sovereignty," Economy told AFP.

"Honestly, it is difficult to see China changing course on any issue of significance to the United States. We are in a position where our core values and vision of a future world are fundamentally at odds."

Beijing warns US of 'no compromise' on sovereignty, security at Alaska talks
Beijing (AFP) March 18, 2021 - China's foreign ministry said on Thursday it would not make concessions to the US on key issues including Xinjiang and Hong Kong, ahead of high-level meetings between the two countries' diplomats in Alaska.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan are set for talks with senior Chinese official Yang Jiechi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi later Thursday.

It is the highest-level face-to-face diplomatic meeting between the two countries since US President Joe Biden took office.

China wants a reset in relations, which were pitched into turmoil by Donald Trump's presidency, which brought a damaging trade war and spats over everything from defence to tech and rights in Hong Kong.

But as the diplomats landed in Alaska hours ahead of the talks, a foreign ministry spokesman in Beijing issued a warning to Washington.

"China has no room for compromise on issues concerning its sovereignty, security and core interests," spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters.

Zhao urged the United States against talking tough and engaging in "megaphone diplomacy" toward China after Washington said it intended to show its firmness against Beijing after a round of alliance-building across Asia.

"The US should meet China halfway and conduct the dialogue in a sincere and constructive manner," Zhao said.

The Alaska talks will be the first between the powers since Yang met Blinken's hawkish predecessor Mike Pompeo last June in Hawaii -- a setting similarly far from the high-stakes glare of national capitals.

The American diplomats aim to be on the front foot in the talks, US officials have said.

The US plans to express "deep concerns" about the treatment of the Uighur minority in Xinjiang, a crackdown in Hong Kong, Chinese "economic coercion" and Beijing's "increasingly aggressive" stance towards Taiwan.

Those are all issues China has defended in the past as domestic affairs and matters of national sovereignty.

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US aims to set agenda at Alaska talks with China: officials
Washington (AFP) March 17, 2021
US President Joe Biden's administration intends to show its firmness against Beijing in its first meeting with Chinese diplomatic leaders in Alaska on Thursday, but does not expect immediate results, US officials said. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan are set for talks with senior Chinese official Yang Jiechi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi that represent "an initial discussion to understand... our interests, intentions and priorities," one seni ... read more