Top US, China diplomats discuss Russia, sanctions
MUNICH, Germany: United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday raised concerns over Beijing’s backing for Russia’s war on Ukraine in talks with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi, who called for Washington to lift sanctions on Chinese entities.
Blinken and Wang’s meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in southern Germany follows an extremely fraught period between the two giants over issues that include Taiwan, trade and human rights.
Washington and Beijing have also been at odds over China’s detente with Russia as Moscow wages war in Ukraine.
But tensions have eased markedly over the past year as the US pursued dialogue with China.
Blinken underlined the “importance of continuing to implement the progress made” at a November summit between US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
He also raised the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the South China Sea, Miller added.
Wang echoed Blinken’s sentiments about the Biden-Xi summit, saying both sides needed to work to “promote a sound, steady and sustainable development of bilateral relations,” according to a readout from China’s Foreign Ministry.
The ministry said the two held “candid, substantive and constructive discussions,” with Wang calling on the US to “lift illegal unilateral sanctions against Chinese companies and individuals.”
Wang also urged Washington to “stop unwarranted harassment and interrogation of Chinese citizens and to promote activities that enhance mutual understanding between the two peoples,” it added.
On Russia, Blinken raised US concerns that Moscow was developing a space-based anti-satellite weapon — an issue he also brought up at a separate meeting with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
Washington publicly addressed the “space-based” weapon on Thursday, with Moscow denying the assertions as “malicious” and “unfounded.”
At meetings with Wang and Jaishankar, Blinken “emphasized that the pursuit of this capability should be a matter of concern,” said the US official, adding that he planned to raise the issue at Munich Security Conference meetings.
While Beijing still resents US measures such as the banning of exports of advanced semiconductors, relations between the two giants have stabilized somewhat since Biden met Xi on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, California, in November.
Making good on a commitment made during the summit, a US delegation held in February an inaugural meeting in China on the flow of fentanyl, the powerful painkiller behind an addiction epidemic in the US.
US officials believe China wants to focus on economic headwinds at home and that it acted with relative moderation during last month’s elections in Taiwan.