It was a “tense” meeting, with both sides describing a meeting with pointing out problems without any opening from the opposite side, and without any further steps being announced. The meeting between the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, and the head of Chinese diplomacy, Wang Yi, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, led to a series of reports of the danger of disagreement between the two powers.
Blinken has publicly stated his concern that China may be considering arming Russia for its offensive in Ukraine.
“The concern we have right now is, based on the information we have, that they are considering lethal assistance,” Blinken told the CBS show. face the nation, about Chinese officials. “And we made it very clear that this would cause a serious problem for us and our relationship.”
The line of this lethal support has not yet been crossed, Blinken said, noting that the US believes that Chinese companies already provide support to the Wagner group, which is a Russian paramilitary force, in the form of surveillance information.
The American official also asked China to stop helping Russia to circumvent the impact of sanctions, says the British daily. The Guardian. China increased trade with Russia, buying Russian oil, probably below the price of 60 dollars (about 55.60 euros) per barrel, the maximum ceiling imposed by the European Union and the G7.
Wang Yi, for his part, did not apologize for the surveillance balloon that flew over the United States and was shot down, Blinken said. China has said it was a civilian craft, the US says it recovered sensors and that there was visible surveillance equipment on the balloon.
the american daily The New York Times reports that China’s account of the meeting also lacks reason for great optimism. It is up to the United States to “resolve the damage caused by the indiscriminate use of force” that Beijing considers to have been the shooting down of the balloon, Wang said quoted by the media. average Chinese.
In addition to what was said about the meeting, there is what was not said: no new date was set for Blinken to go to Beijing. The scheduled trip was postponed following the balloon affair (the balloons that followed and were shot down should not have been Chinese, but scientific research and even recreational equipment, admitted the President, Joe Biden), and American officials were hopeful that it was possible to have a new date.
Despite this, the newspaper quotes Danny Russell, vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute, an independent research organization, who sees a positive side: “The fact that the meeting took place and both sides could say that they stated their views in the case of the spy balloon it can help both sides put the incident behind them and work to reschedule Blinken’s trip to Beijing, which is where the real work will be done”.
Before meeting Blinken, Wang announced a Chinese peace initiative for Ukraine, and used the conference to talk about it with European countries. Several diplomats said they were not impressed by a speech they called vague and a repetition of what Beijing has been saying, according to the guardian.
Biden in Poland
As the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion approaches, on February 24, President Biden will be in Poland, where he will deliver a speech on Tuesday on the anniversary and send “a strong message of solidarity”, according to White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre.
Despite Biden being in a country neighboring Ukraine from February 20 to 22, White House spokesman for Security, John Kirby, said this Sunday that there are no plans for the US President to go to Kiev. But it will make clear that the United States will support Ukraine for “as long as it takes,” Kirby said.
It is Biden’s second trip to Poland where he was last year, shortly after the invasion began, where he also met with Ukrainian refugees. On Wednesday, the US President will meet with officials from the European countries that are on NATO’s eastern flank, as well as Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.