Blinken discusses war in Ukraine at meeting with top Chinese Communist Party diplomat

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Photo: Getty Images

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met with Liu Jianchao, Head of the International Liaison Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, who is widely tipped to be the country’s next foreign minister, in Washington.

Source: a statement from Matthew Miller, spokesman for the US Department of State, as reported by European Pravda

Quote: “The two sides exchanged views on regional and global issues, including Russia’s war against Ukraine, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and the Middle East, and the Secretary noted the importance of upholding and defending navigational rights and freedoms in the Red Sea and avoiding further escalation.”

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Details: Miller said Blinken had stressed the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the South China Sea.

“[The two sides] reaffirmed the importance of continuing to implement the progress made on key issues in the Summit between President Biden and President Xi in Woodside, California, in November 2023, particularly counter-narcotics cooperation and military-to-military communications,” the statement reads.

Background:

• Both sides recognised the importance of continuing to maintain open channels of communication between the US and China, Miller concluded.
• Earlier, the Pentagon said Russia and China are seeking to weaken the US’s military advantage in space.
• Chinese leader Xi Jinping had previously written in a letter to US President Joe Biden that their countries should strive for “peaceful coexistence”.
• In November, Biden and Xi met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. It was their first face-to-face meeting in a year and Xi’s first visit to the United States in four years.

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