Relations strained as China backs Russia
NUSA DUA, Indonesia — China’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine is complicating U.S.-Chinese relations at a time when they are already beset by rifts and enmity over numerous other issues, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his Chinese counterpart on Saturday.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi blamed the U.S. for the downturn in relations and said that American policy has been derailed by what he called a misperception of China as a threat.
“Many people believe that the United States is suffering from a China-phobia,” he said, according to a Chinese statement. “If such threat-expansion is allowed to grow, U.S. policy toward China will be a dead end with no way out.”
In five hours of talks in their first-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 protestations that it is neutral in the conflict.
“We are concerned about the PRC’s alignment with Russia,” Blinken told reporters after the meeting in the Indonesian resort of Bali. He said it is difficult to be “neutral” in a conflict in which there is a clear aggressor but that even it were possible, “I don’t believe China is acting in a way that is neutral.”
The exchanges were exceptionally candid and neither side held back, but they were professional in tone despite the candor, according to a senior State Department official, who asked not to be identified.
The statement by the Chinese embassy in Washington also warned the U.S. against supporting Taiwanese independence, advised the U.S. not to form “exclusive groupings” against China and said Washington shouldn’t meddle in China’s internal affairs, including on Hong Kong and Xinjiang.