Beijing:

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, while closing his three-day trip to China, said that the US has seen evidence of Chinese attempts to “influence and arguably interfere” with the upcoming US elections, despite Chinese President Xi Jinping’s earlier commitment to not do so, reported CNN.

Blinken made the comments in an interview with CNN on Friday while ending his visit to China, where the top American diplomat spent hours meeting with top Chinese officials, including Xi, as the two countries navigated a raft of contentious issues, from US tech controls to Beijing’s support for Moscow.

Blinken said he reiterated President Joe Biden’s message, which he gave to Xi Jinping during their summit in San Francisco last November, to not interfere in the 2024 US presidential elections.

Following which, Xi pledged that China would not do so, according to CNN.

“We have seen, generally speaking, evidence of attempts to influence and arguably interfere, and we want to make sure that that’s cut off as quickly as possible,” Blinken said when asked whether China was violating Xi’s commitment to Biden so far.

“Any interference by China in our election is something that we’re looking very carefully at and is totally unacceptable to us, so I wanted to make sure that they heard that message again,” he added.

Blinken further noted that there were concerns about China and other countries playing on existing social divisions in the US in influence campaigns, as reported by CNN.

Beijing has repeatedly said that it does not interfere in US elections, based on its principle of non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs.

However, China or other nations that are believed to be affiliated with Beijing have been accused of political interference in other countries, such as Canada, according to CNN.

Blinken’s trip, marking his second visit to the country in less than a year, is the latest in a string of high-level engagements that culminated in the Biden-Xi summit late last year and have seen the two countries start to expand what had been severely diminished bilateral communications.

“We are (now) focused on areas where we’re working to cooperate, but also we’re being very forthright about our differences and that’s important if we’re going to avoid the competition we’re in turning into conflict,” Blinken said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised concerns on Friday about China’s support for Russia’s military, one of the many issues threatening to sour the recent improvement in relations between the world’s biggest economies.

Blinken raised the matter during five-and-a-half hours of talks with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi in Beijing, the latest high-level contact between the countries that have eased last year’s acrimony.

“I reiterated our serious concern about the PRC providing components that are powering Russia’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine,” Blinken said at a press conference at the end of his visit on Friday, using China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.

“China is the top supplier of machine tools, microelectronics, nitrocellulose, which is critical to making munitions and rocket propellants, and other dual-use items that Moscow is using to ramp up its defence industrial base.”

Underscoring the closeness of the Beijing-Moscow relationship, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu met his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun on Friday and said the two countries were working to strengthen their “strategic partnership in the defence sector”.

They met on the sidelines of a regional security meeting in Kazakhstan where Shoigu said Russia and its allies in Asia should expand joint military exercises and counter what he called US efforts to destabilise their neighbourhood.

Despite its “no limits” partnership with Moscow, China has steered clear of providing arms for Russia’s war in Ukraine, but Blinken said its supply of so-called dual-use goods was “having a material effect in Ukraine” and raising the threat Russia poses to other countries in Europe.

Blinken did not respond to a question on whether Washington would impose sanctions over China’s support for Russia.

The US officials say such assistance risks hurting the broader bilateral relationship, even as ties stabilise after being hit by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in 2022 and the US downing of a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon in February 2023.

China has said it has not provided weaponry to any party, adding that it is “not a producer of or party involved in the Ukraine crisis”. However, it says that normal trade between China and Russia should not be interrupted or restricted.

Steadying the Ship

Blinken’s visit produced little progress on other contentious issues, including US complaints about cheap Chinese exports and tensions over Taiwan and the South China Sea. Instead, both sides were focusing on pragmatic issues such as people-to-people exchanges.

In addition to his talks with Wang, Blinken met Chinese President Xi Jinping, who reiterated Beijing’s concerns that the United States was suppressing its economic development.

“This is a fundamental issue that must be addressed, just like the first button of a shirt that must be put right, in order for the China-US relationship to truly stabilise, improve and move forward,” Xi said.

Earlier, Wang told Blinken that the “giant ship” of the China-US ties had stabilised, “but negative factors in the relationship are still increasing and building”.

Wang also said the US had taken “endless” measures to suppress China’s economy, trade, science and technology, equating such steps to containment.

“And the relationship is facing all kinds of disruptions. China’s legitimate development rights have been unreasonably suppressed and our core interests are facing challenges,” Wang told Blinken.

The agenda for the talks was set during the November summit between Biden and Xi in San Francisco and a follow-up call in April.

Defence Aid For Taiwan

Hours before Blinken landed in China on Wednesday, President Joe Biden signed a bill that included $8 billion to counter China’s military might, as well as billions in defence aid for Taiwan and $61 billion for Ukraine.

Wang said the US must not step on “red lines” covering sovereignty, security and development interests – an apparent reference to Taiwan, the democratically governed island that China claims as its own, and the disputed South China Sea.

Other issues being discussed include artificial intelligence and the US push for progress on the curbing of China’s supply of the chemicals used to make fentanyl.

Blinken, along with senior US officials focused on anti-narcotics collaboration with China, met China’s minister of public security, Wang Xiaohong, to discuss the fentanyl issue.

Blinken told the press conference that China has made some progress on the issue, but said that “more needs to be done”.

The two countries also agreed to hold their first talks on artificial intelligence in the coming weeks, he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is welcomed by Yang Tao, center left, Director General of the Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs of the Foreign Ministry, as he arrived on April 25, 2024 at the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, China.
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Thursday on the United States and China to manage their differences “responsibly” as he landed in Beijing for tough talks with the rival power’s leaders.

Mr. Blinken is expected to address a range of thorny issues including Chinese support for Russia and its treatment of Taiwan, with China likely to raise trade concerns such as new U.S. action against popular social media app TikTok.

Mr. Blinken headed straight to a closed-door gathering with leading Chinese scholars on Thursday.

On Friday a full day of talks with China’s political leadership is planned, including a possible meeting with President Xi Jinping.

Mr. Blinken arrived from Shanghai, where the top U.S. diplomat attempted a charm offensive that saw him sample local food, watch a basketball game and stroll along the city’s famous Bund promenade.

Visiting the local Communist Party leader in a room with sweeping views of the Shanghai skyline, Mr. Blinken said U.S. President Joe Biden was committed to “direct and sustained” dialogue between the world’s two largest economies after years of mounting tension.

“I think it’s important to underscore the value — in fact, the necessity — of direct engagement, of speaking to each other, laying out our differences, which are real, seeking to work through them,” Mr. Blinken said.

“We have an obligation for our people — indeed an obligation to the world — to manage the relationship between our two countries responsibly.”

The Chinese Communist Party secretary for Shanghai, Chen Jining, welcomed Mr. Blinken partly in English and spoke of the importance of U.S. businesses to the city.

“Whether we choose cooperation or confrontation affects the well-being of both peoples, both countries and the future of humanity,” Mr. Chen told him.

Mr. Blinken also met students at the Shanghai campus of New York University, where he voiced hope for more Americans to study in China.

He insisted the United States was committed to welcoming Chinese students.

Beijing has repeatedly alleged that Chinese nationals with valid travel documents, including students, have been subject to aggressive interrogations and deportations at U.S. airports.

“President Biden and President Xi are determined to strengthen our people-to-people ties,” Mr. Blinken said.

He also met U.S. business leaders, telling them that the two countries needed to make sure the “economic relationship is working in the ways that it should work to mutual benefit”.

Pressing on Russia

Mr. Blinken, the first U.S. Secretary of State to visit Shanghai in 14 years, opened his visit on Wednesday evening at a restaurant serving steamed buns before going to watch a basketball match between the Shanghai Sharks and the Zhejiang Golden Bulls.

Such softer diplomacy, once a staple of U.S.-China relations, would have been unimaginable until recently, with hawks in both countries speaking of an emerging new Cold War.

Mr. Blinken’s aides hope his smiling persona at public events draws an implicit contrast to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov’s gruffer approach when he visited China this month.

The next leg of Mr. Blinken’s trip is set to be far less relaxing when he meets top cadres in Beijing.

China has not announced plans for Mr. Blinken to meet Mr. Xi, although a meeting was announced at the last minute during his previous visit in June.

Among the many sticky issues Mr. Blinken is expected to raise in Beijing are concerns about China’s relationship with Russia.

Although U.S. officials were initially pleased that Beijing has not shipped weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine, they now say that China’s alarm at Moscow’s setbacks on the battlefield has prompted it to export vast quantities of industrial supplies to Russia.

U.S. officials believe China is more receptive to Western concerns as it seeks to focus on managing economic headwinds at home and wants to avoid friction with the West.

But China is also furious about a series of moves by Mr. Biden — who is facing a tough re-election fight in November against Donald Trump — they say serve to constrain the Chinese economy.

Most recently, the U.S. Congress approved legislation that would force the divestment of TikTok from its Chinese owners or face a ban in the world’s largest economy.

Mr. Biden supports the legislation, arguing that TikTok, popular among young people, poses security and privacy concerns. China has accused the United States of unfair economic coercion.

Unusually, Mr. Trump has distanced himself from a TikTok ban. He has otherwise championed a tough line on China, with vows to raise tariffs drastically if he returns to office.