Despite expressing concern over problems like Taiwan, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Saturday that his country’s infrequent conversations with China’s counterpart in Indonesia were “constructive.”
“Despite the complexities of our relationship, I can say with some confidence that our delegations found today’s discussions useful, candid and constructive,” Blinken said after an unusually long five hours of talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Blinken, however, said that he also raised issues with regard to Taiwan, Hong Kong, human rights, and Ukraine.
“I conveyed deep concerns of the United States regarding Beijing’s increasingly provoke rhetoric and activity toward Taiwan and the vital importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” Blinken said.
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A day after G20 discussions in Bali, where Western nations publicly condemned Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov over the invasion of Ukraine, he also urged China to distance itself from Moscow.
According to Blinken, he advised Wang that “this really is a moment where we all have to stand up, as we heard country after country in the G20 do, to condemn the aggression and to demand, among other things, that Russia allow access to food that is trapped in Ukraine.”
After receiving a storm of criticism during the G20 conference the day before, he added that there were “no signs” that Moscow was eager to engage.
