US: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his Chinese counterpart on Saturday that China's support for Russia's war in Ukraine is complicating U.S.-Chinese relations at a time when they are already troubled by rifts and hostility over a number of other issues.
Blinken claimed that during their five-hour first face-to-face meeting since October, he expressed to Foreign Minister Wang Yi his grave concerns regarding China's position on Russia's activities in Ukraine and his disbelief in Beijing's claims that it is neutral in the conflict.
The talks were scheduled as part of a renewed effort to try and control the escalating hostility that has come to characterise recent relations between Washington and Beijing.
After the meeting in the Indonesian resort of Bali, Blinken told reporters that "We are concerned about the PRC's alignment with Russia." In a conflict where there is a clear aggressor it is challenging to be "neutral," but even if it were possible, "I don't think China is acting in a neutral manner,"
The Biden's administration was expecting for that China would take a similar stance with Russia and Ukraine given its long history of opposing what it sees as interference in its own internal affairs. But it has not, opting instead for a hybrid stance that American officials believe is harming the global system of rules-based order. Blinken asserted that he thought Russia had left the G-20 summit alone and isolated because the majority of attendees had opposed the war in Ukraine. The ministers were unable to agree on a G-20-wide call for an end to the conflict.
Blinken claimed that during their conversation about China, he and Wang covered a wide range of contentious topics, including human rights, trade, tariffs, Taiwan, and South China Sea disputes that have all been complicated by China's stance on Ukraine.
Just two days prior, the top military officials of the two nations had a virtual meeting where they sparred over Taiwan. The self-governing island that Beijing claims as its territory is just one of many issues, according to Blinken. The U.S. concerns about China's "increasingly provocative rhetoric and activity near Taiwan and the vital importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," he claimed, were stressed. He continued by saying he had also voiced concerns about minorities in Tibet and the western Xinjiang region.
Wang also repeated a phrase that is frequently used in Chinese: "mutual respect," "peaceful coexistence," and "win-win cooperation." The interests of the two nations and two peoples are served by that, he claimed. Additionally, it is a goal that the entire world community shares.
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