US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (l) and China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang shake hands before a meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on June 18, 2023.
Leah Millis | AFP | Getty Images
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will warn China about its support for the Russian military during his visit to the country this week, according to a senior State Department official.
Blinken is expected to express Washington’s “deep concern” about China’s aid to Russia’s defense industry during his three-day visit starting Wednesday.
“We stand ready to take action, if necessary, against companies that … seriously threaten security in both Ukraine and Europe,” the official told reporters before Blinken’s trip.
“And I think we have demonstrated our willingness to do that to companies from a range of countries, not just China,” he added. “In any case, I think this will be a key topic of discussion while we are in Beijing.”
U.S. allies in Europe are concerned about the impact of Beijing’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine and “what that means for European security in particular, and then of course it will be up to China to determine its next steps,” the official noted .
This will be Blinken’s second trip to China after completing a high-level diplomatic mission to ease US-China tensions in June last year.
According to the State Department, Blinken is expected to meet with senior Chinese officials during his visit to Beijing and Shanghai, including Foreign Minister Wang Yi. It remains unclear whether the foreign minister will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping.
China is stoking threats to European security
When it comes to Russia’s defense industrial base, China is “the main contributor,” Blinken said last week after the G7 foreign ministers meeting in Italy.
“We see China sharing machine tools, semiconductors and other dual-use goods that have helped Russia rebuild the defense industrial base that has been so weakened by sanctions and export controls,” he said.
“If, on the one hand, China claims to want good relations with Europe and other countries, on the other hand, it cannot fuel the greatest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War.”
Chinese firms are playing an increasingly important role in shoring up Russia’s struggling economy and bolstering its military capabilities, including by trading goods for use on the battlefield in Ukraine, according to a CNBC analysis.
Data last year appeared to indicate that Beijing was providing militarily useful equipment such as drones, helmets, vests and radios, extending the lifeline to President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine.
Blinken will also “discuss a range of bilateral, regional and global issues,” such as the Middle East crisis and China’s provocations in the South China Sea, the senior official said.
Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea for itself and is involved in territorial disputes with, among others, Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam. It has previously warned Washington against interfering with China’s territorial and maritime rights.
On the trade front, the two countries continue to battle for technology supremacy, and just last week China criticized U.S. investigations into its shipping, logistics and shipbuilding industries, calling the move “mistake after mistake.”
The senior US official noted that Washington is realistic about its expectations of Blinken’s visit in resolving key issues.
“I want to make it clear that we are realistic and clear about the prospects for breakthroughs on all of these issues,” he said.
“But we will continue to use diplomacy to communicate our positions and policies, dispel misconceptions and underscore that we will continue to take action to protect our national security and economy.”
Source link
2024-04-22 06:55:18
www.cnbc.com
