The Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, assured this Saturday that he transmitted to his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, during a meeting held on the Indonesian island of Bali, that his country remains “concerned about the alignment of China with Russia”, regarding the invasion of Ukraine.
Blinken made the remarks during a press conference after holding a five-hour meeting with Wang today, one day after the conclusion of the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Bali, which was also attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
“Beijing says that it is neutral, but I tell them that it is very difficult to remain neutral in the face of such aggression,” Blinken remarked on China’s position in the face of the conflict caused by Russia, whom the world’s second largest economy “continues to protect in international organizations. and echoing their propaganda,” he added.
The head of US diplomacy stressed that Beijing’s position was made clear after the call last month between the Chinese and Russian presidents, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, by virtue of the “limitless” friendship they defended at the beginning of the year.
However, he claimed to have had “useful and constructive” discussions with Wang, the first the two have had since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
On Russia, Blinken said this Saturday that he saw “no sign that it is ready for diplomacy”, after many of those attending the G20 meetings on Thursday and Friday in Bali criticized that Lavrov did not stay to listen to his colleagues and He left the room after delivering his speech.
“Our goal is clear, and that is to make sure that we continue to put pressure on Russia to engage in engaging diplomatic activity,” Blinken said.
In addition to Russia, the US diplomat and Wang discussed other “regional and global” issues, Blinken said, calling the bilateral relationship “highly important for our countries and for the world.”
“Wang and I have discussed the state of our bilateral relationship,” the American said at the meeting with the media.
Blinken added that, although there are issues that confront them, such as Ukraine, Taiwan – the self-governing island that Beijing does not rule out invading and that Washington would defend in principle – or “the genocide in Xinjiang” (the northwestern Chinese region, home to the Uyghur Muslim minority ), the “communication remains open”.
“It is in the interest of our nations and the world, even though none of these issues are easy,” added the US diplomat.
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