U.S. Puts China On Notice Over Russia Support – United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken reportedly told his Chinese counterpart, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, on Saturday that China’s support for Russia complicates U.S.-China relations. During a meeting between the two government officials, Wang also argued that the United States’ view of China as an enemy was wrong.
In their first meeting since October, which lasted for more than five hours, Blinken expressed concern that China supports Russia in its invasion of Ukraine – and explicitly accused the country of not being honest in its claims of being neutral on the conflict.
“We are concerned about the PRC’s alignment with Russia,” Blinken told reporters after the meeting. The U.S. official also said that it’s difficult for any party to be “neutral” in the conflict when there is one clear aggressor.
“I don’t believe China is acting in a way that is neutral,” he said.
Blinken said that he discussed several contentious matters with Wang, including tariffs and human rights abuses in Taiwan.
U.S. officials also said that while no breakthroughs are expected as a result of the talks, the Biden administration hopes to maintain communication with China to create “guardrails” that will guide the two giant economies.“We’re committed to managing this relationship, this competition responsible as the world expects us to do,” he said.
Wang Warns Relations Will Struggle If U.S. Perceives China As A Threat
Wang also warned Blinken that the relationship between the two countries is in danger of being led “astray” as a result of the United States’ view of China and the Chinese Communist Party.
“Many people believe that the United States is suffering from an increasingly serious bout of ‘Chinaphobia’,” Wang said, repeating a claim often used by the Chinese Communist Party.
Notably, Russian President Vladimir Putin also claims that much of the West’s disagreement with Russia was not a matter of principle or policy, but “Russophobia.”
Wang said that the United States should stop any new tariffs imposed on China and stop unilateral sanctions against Chinese companies.
China Has Kept Russia At Arms Length
China has long claimed neutrality over the Russia-Ukraine conflict, though the country refused to condemn the invasion from the beginning.
In March, China’s official summary of a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Chinese Communist Party “supports Russia in resolving the issue through negotiation.”
And while the Chinese Foreign Ministry did endorse some Russian claims that the United States military was running bioweapons laboratories in Ukraine, the Chinese government did also deny Russia the military support it requested earlier in the war and later denied any requests were made.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
