Blinken, Wang Yi discuss Taiwan, China’s support for Russia in Laos meeting

VIENTIANE - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated Washington’s concerns over Beijing’s actions towards Taiwan and its support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, as he met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on July 27.

Mr Blinken, who earlier called out China for escalating maritime tensions with the Philippines, talked extensively with Mr Wang about Taiwan and Beijing’s recent “provocative” actions towards the island, a senior US State Department official said.

Those actions included a simulated blockade during the inauguration of Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, the official said.

Mr Blinken and Mr Wang agreed to keep making progress on military-to-military ties, but did not discuss nuclear arms control talks, which China has halted in protest over Washington providing arms to Taiwan, the official said.

“In every discussion, Taiwan is the issue that they care most about. They see it as... an internal China issue,” said the official, who briefed reporters travelling with Mr Blinken.

China’s government considers democratically ruled Taiwan as inviolable Chinese territory, which the island rejects.

Mr Wang told Mr Blinken that Taiwan was part of China and “was not and will not be a country”, and Beijing would counter provocations by forces advocating Taiwan’s independence, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement.

He said that though communication channels between China and the US were open, Washington had intensified its efforts to contain and suppress Beijing.

“The risks facing Sino-US relations are still accumulating, and the challenges are rising and ties are at a critical juncture of halting their decline and achieving stability,” Mr Wang said.

The two talked for one hour and 20 minutes on the sidelines of a regional summit in Laos, in their sixth meeting since June 2023, when Mr Blinken visited Beijing in a significant sign of improvement in strained relations between the world’s two biggest economies.

They did not set a date for their next meeting, the US official said.

Mr Blinken is touring East Asia in a bid to reassure countries close to China of US commitment, despite political uncertainty at home.

He travelled to Vietnam later on July 27 and was set to hold security talks alongside Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin in Japan and the Philippines in the coming days.

Mr Blinken conveyed to Mr Wang that US President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential candidate, both believed in the importance of stability in the US-China relationship, and that a rules-based order must be upheld, the official added.

Mr Blinken also discussed China’s support for Russia’s defence industrial base and warned of further US actions if China does not curtail that, according to the official.

Washington has levied sanctions at targets including China-based companies selling semiconductors to Moscow, as part of an effort to undercut the Russian military machine waging war on Ukraine.

“There was no commitment by the Chinese to take action,” the official said.

Mr Blinken also raised with Mr Wang US concerns over human rights in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Tibet.

He also stressed the need for more progress from Beijing on counter-narcotics operations including on fentanyl precursors coming out of China.

The two also discussed a recent agreement between Palestinian factions brokered by Beijing, the official said, casting doubt on how effective that deal could be at settling the bitter rivalry between Fatah, which runs the Palestinian Authority, and Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip and launched attacks on Israel on Oct 7, sparking the current bloodshed.

“We’ve seen a number of purported reconciliations before that have not proven to bear fruit,” the official said. REUTERS