Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang tells Blinken US should respect China’s core concerns
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China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang (left) told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a phone call that the US should stop interfering in the country’s affairs.
PHOTOS: REUTERS
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BEIJING - China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a phone call on Wednesday that Washington should stop interfering in Beijing’s affairs and harming its security, according to a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Mr Qin also said the United States should respect China’s core concerns such as the Taiwan issue, in an effort to arrest declining relations between the superpowers.
Mr Blinken stressed the need for communication “to avoid miscalculation and conflict” and said the US would continue to raise areas of concern as well as potential cooperation with China, the State Department said in a summary of the call.
The top US diplomat is scheduled to travel to China and Britain between June 16 and 21, the State Department said on Wednesday, after an official last week said Mr Blinken would be in Beijing on June 18. Chinese state media said he was due to visit China from June 18 to 19.
While there, Mr Blinken will meet senior Chinese officials to “raise bilateral issues of concern” as well as other global and regional matters and “shared transnational challenges”, the State Department said in a statement.
If Mr Blinken’s trip goes ahead, it will be the first visit to China by Washington’s top diplomat in five years and the highest profile visit of President Joe Biden’s administration, which has clashed with Beijing over issues ranging from spy charges to a semiconductor tussle.
In February, Mr Blinken cancelled a planned trip to Beijing over a suspected Chinese spy balloon
Visits by US officials to Taiwan, which Beijing considers an integral part of China, have also magnified tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
“Since the beginning of the year, Sino-US relations have encountered new difficulties and challenges, and the responsibility is clear,” Mr Qin told Mr Blinken, according to the foreign ministry’s readout.
The US should “stop interfering in China’s internal affairs, and stop harming China’s sovereignty, security and development interests in the name of competition,” Mr Qin added. REUTERS
