US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (right) shakes hands with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during their meeting in Nusa Dua on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on Saturday.
Stefani Reynolds / Pool Photo via AP
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Stefani Reynolds / Pool Photo via AP
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (right) shakes hands with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during their meeting in Nusa Dua on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on Saturday.
Stefani Reynolds / Pool Photo via AP
NUSA DUA, Indonesia – China support Russia’s War in Ukraine US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his Chinese counterpart on Saturday it was complicating US-China relations at a time when they were already beset by rifts and hostility on many other issues.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has blamed the US for the deterioration in relations and said US policy has been derailed by what he called a misperception of viewing China as a threat. threaten.
“Many people believe that the United States is suffering from fear of China,” he said, according to a Chinese statement. “If such an expansion of the threat is allowed to increase, US policy towards China will be a dead end with no way out.”
During the five-hour talks during a face-to-face meeting since October, Blinken said he expressed deep concern about China’s stance on Russia’s actions in Ukraine and did not believe Beijing’s objections. that they are neutral in the conflict.
The talks have been arranged in a new attempt to try to contain or at least manage the pervasive hostility that has shaped the recent relationship between Washington and Beijing.
“We are concerned about the PRC’s affiliation with Russia,” Blinken told reporters after the meeting in the Indonesian resort of Bali. He said that it is difficult to be “neutral” in a conflict where there is clearly an aggressor but even that is possible, “I don’t believe China is acting in a neutral way.”
China’s statement said the two sides had an in-depth exchange of Ukraine’s position but did not provide details.
The Biden administration had hoped that China, with its long history of opposing what it saw as interference in its internal affairs, would take a similar stance with Russia and Ukraine. But that didn’t happen, instead choosing what US officials see as a hybrid position that hurts the international rules-based order.
Blinken said every country, including China, would lose if that order was eroded.
The two men met a day after they both attended a meeting of top diplomats from the Group of 20 rich and large developing countries, which ended without a joint call for an end to the war. Russia in Ukraine or planning to address its impacts on food and energy. Guard.
However, Blinken said that he believes Russia left the G-20 meeting in isolation and alone because most of the participants expressed opposition to the Ukraine war. However, the ministers were unable to come to a consensus on calling for the G-20 to end the conflict.
“There is a strong consensus and Russia is isolated,” Blinken said of the personal condemnation of Russia’s actions from various ministers, some of whom have shied away from the meetings. conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
He noted that Foreign Minister Lavrov left the meeting early, possibly because he did not like what he was hearing from his counterparts.
“It’s very important that he heard loud and clear from around the world condemning Russia’s aggression,” Blinken said, adding: “We see no sign of it,” Blinken said. any sign that Russia is ready to engage in diplomacy.”
Regarding China, Blinken said he and Wang discussed a range of contentious issues from tariffs, trade and human rights over Taiwan and the South China Sea disputes, all complicated by China’s market towards Ukraine.
Wang called on the US to lift tariffs on goods imported from China as soon as possible, stop interfering in his country’s internal affairs and not harm its interests in the name of human rights and the people. owner. He also accused the US of using “salami-slicing” tactics against Taiwan, a self-governing island that China claims as its territory and says should be under its control.
Just two days earlier, top military officers from other countries confronted Taiwan in a virtual meeting. Blinken said he highlighted US concerns with China’s “increasingly provocative words and activities near Taiwan and the vital importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.” .” He added that he had also raised human rights concerns regarding minorities in Tibet and in the western region of Xinjiang.
Wang dismissed some of the “erroneous US views” on Xinjiang, Hong Kong and the South China Sea, the Chinese statement said.
US officials have said in advance that they do not expect any breakthrough from Blinken’s negotiations with Wang. However, they said they hoped the conversation could help keep lines of communication open and create a “fence” to guide the world’s two largest economies as they navigate the growing issues. complex and potentially explosive.
“We are committed to managing this relationship, this competition as responsibly as the world expects us to do,” Blinken said.
The United States and China have taken increasingly confrontational positions, including on Ukraine, which some fear could lead to miscalculation and conflict. The United States has watched cautiously as China refuses to criticize the Russian invasion, condemns Western sanctions against Russia and accuses the US and NATO of inciting conflict.
At the G-20 meeting, Wang addressed China’s policy on global stability, saying that “putting one’s own security above the security of others and strengthening military blocs will only divide international community and make themselves less safe,” according to China’s foreign ministry.
On Thursday, China’s Chief of the General Staff, General Li Zuocheng, defended his US counterpart, General Mark Milley, about Washington’s support for Taiwan.
Li demanded that the US stop military “collusion” with Taiwan, saying that China “has no room for compromise” on issues affecting its “core interests”.
The meeting between Li and Milley followed fiery comments by Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe at a regional security conference last month also attended by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Wei accused the United States of trying to “usurp” the support of countries in the Asia-Pacific region to turn them against Beijing, and said Washington was seeking to advance its own interests. “under the guise of multilateralism”.
At a similar meeting in Singapore, Austin suggested that China was destabilizing with its claims to Taiwan and increased military activity in the region.
