USA (bbabo.net), - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in China, where he has already begun consultations with representatives of the Chinese leadership, TASS reports.
As previously reported, the visit will last from April 24 to 26. During the trip, Blinken intends to visit Shanghai and Beijing and meet with senior Chinese officials, including Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
The head of the American foreign policy department, according to a statement made the day before by the official representative of the US State Department, faces three tasks.
“The first is to make progress on key topics, the second is to clearly and directly communicate concerns about bilateral, regional and global issues. The third goal is to manage competition responsibly so that it does not lead to miscalculations or conflict,” the State Department spokesman emphasized.
According to him, Washington believes that it has “made progress” in all these areas, noting the changes that have occurred in relations between the two countries, which are no longer at the “lowest point in history.”
Nevertheless, the State Department, according to its official representative, “realistically assesses” the prospects for any breakthroughs based on the results of Blinken’s meetings with representatives of the Chinese leadership. At the same time, they emphasize the importance of continuing “face-to-face diplomacy” to “resolve the tensions characteristic of the strategic competition between the two major powers.” According to the official, Washington expects high-level diplomatic contacts between the United States and China to continue “in the coming weeks and months.”
The main topic of discussion in Beijing, according to a State Department spokesman, will be China’s alleged “support for the military-industrial complex [military-industrial complex] of Russia.”
“I think our goal is to clearly outline the consequences of such support and explain why it may not be in China's interests going forward,” he said.
According to him, the support for the Russian military-industrial complex attributed to China “not only affects the situation on the battlefield,” but also “represents a larger threat to European security.”
On the eve of Blinken's visit, The Wall Street Journal reported that the United States intends to impose sanctions against Chinese banks, which, according to Washington, are involved in the export of dual-use goods from China to Russia.
China has repeatedly denied transferring weapons to Russia for use on Ukrainian territory. At the same time, he always emphasized that he would not allow anyone to interfere in trade and economic cooperation between the Russian Federation and the PRC.
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