BEIJING - Chinese media was on Friday (March 19) rife with nationalistic comments praising the country's top diplomats for standing up to their American counterparts in Anchorage, although analysts cautioned against reading too much into the theatrics.
China's top diplomat Yang Jiechi, who is a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi are in Alaska to meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, in the first high-level in-person talks for the Biden administration.
Both sides traded barbs as the talks kicked off, with Beijing accusing the US of being "inhospitable" and of violating diplomatic protocol, and the US charging China with "grandstanding".
In his opening remarks, Mr Yang emphasised that the United States was not qualified to speak condescendingly with China, and that dealing with China must be on the basis of mutual respect.
"History will prove that it is oneself who suffers in the end if a hard-headed strategy is used with China," Mr Yang said, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
Clips of his comments were widely shared across social media, and memes of the meeting were circulating on messaging platform WeChat by lunchtime.
"Show (the US) that China is not to be trifled with," read one comment on the Twitter-like Weibo, responding to a video of the meeting.
Comments about the delegation's "triumphant return" were also common.
This unprecedented open confrontation between both countries is a moment of "great symbolism", wrote newspaper editor Hu Xijin, who heads the state-owned Global Times tabloid.
"It tells Americans that they should stop pretending that they can point fingers at China. That era is already over," he wrote on Weibo.
Much was also being made of the fact that the US overran the agreed-upon speaking time, and that protocol officers tried to usher journalists out after Mr Blinken's and Mr Yang's opening remarks, but were called back in by Mr Blinken, who wanted his response to Mr Yang to be heard.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman later struck a more conciliatory tone, expressing hope that bilateral ties could be brought back on track.
Mr Zhao Lijian told a regular media briefing in Beijing: "Of course, we hope that in the closed-door talks between the two sides, the two sides can fully communicate... and promote Sino-US relations through this dialogue."
Experts, too, cautioned against reading too much into the events, which they saw as necessary for the relationship to move forward.
Three facets - competition, tension and cooperation - make up the US-China relationship, said government adviser Zhu Feng, and the events at Anchorage only highlighted one part of that.
"A heated exchange doesn't mean that the US-China relationship is crumbling. This is to be expected... What is important is how there can continue to be cooperation amid the tension and rhetoric as both sides work towards resetting the relationship," said Professor Zhu, who is also the director of Nanjing University's Institute of International Studies.
Associate Professor Li Mingjiang, coordinator of the China Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said it should also be noted that the comments were made in front of the media, which indicated they were intended for domestic audiences.
"I don't think we should read too much into these open verbal attacks in the opening sessions.
"It is probably the case that behind closed doors, the two sides may be able to discuss more substantive issues," he said.
That the first of three rounds of talks went far beyond the scheduled time is indicative that both sides were continuing to talk despite the tensions suggested in public statements.
"If they didn't have things to talk about, it wouldn't go on as long as that," Prof Li added.
A third round of talks was scheduled for Friday morning local time.
