Blinken meets with President Xi as US, China spar over bilateral and global issues
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00:00The U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is wrapping up a visit in Beijing aimed at easing
00:05tensions between the two countries. He's been meeting with his counterpart Wang Yi as well as
00:09President Xi Jinping, underscoring the importance of continuing dialogue amid a long list of
00:15differences. These include Taiwan and the South China Sea trade as well as China's support for
00:21Russia. Let's take a listen now to Blinken speaking earlier.
00:24In my discussions today, I reiterated our serious concern about the PRC providing components
00:33that are powering Russia's brutal war of aggression against Ukraine. China is the
00:37top supplier of machine tools, microelectronics, nitrocellulose, which is critical to making
00:42munitions and rocket propellants, and other dual-use items that Moscow is using to ramp up
00:48its defense industrial base. A defense industrial base that is churning out rockets, drones,
00:53tanks and other weapons that President Putin is using to invade a sovereign country, to demolish
00:59its power grid and other civilian infrastructure, to kill innocent children, women and men.
01:05Well, for more on the visit, I'm joined by our chief foreign editor Rob Parsons here on set. Hi,
01:10Rob. Let's begin with Washington's complaints about some of Beijing's decisions. One of these
01:16is, of course, China's continued support for Russia amid its war in Ukraine.
01:20We just heard Antony Blinken there. He didn't pull any of his punches, that's for sure.
01:26He made clear where the main areas of contention lie as far as the United States are concerned,
01:32the supply of machine tools, microelectronics, nitrocellulose for munitions and rocket propellant,
01:40all of which he said is powering the Russian military industrial complex and making life
01:46difficult for Ukrainians defending their country in the war. Russia would struggle
01:51to sustain its assault on Ukraine, he said, without China's support. China, in effect,
01:57he said, was wanting to have its cake and eat it. It wanted, it said, to have better relations
02:03with Europe, at the same time as supplying weapons to Russia at a time when Russia was
02:09involved in a war which was the greatest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War.
02:14So, basically, he was saying to China, make up your mind what it is you want. Do you want a good
02:20relationship with the rest of the world, or do you want to have a good relationship with Russia?
02:25Because you can't have both, given the current context. And there was a warning as well.
02:34He said, if China's not prepared to act on this, we are. There will be more sanctions,
02:39sanctions already imposed on over 100 Chinese firms. The threat was that both Europe and the
02:45U.S. would impose more sanctions. But he also said, in the same context,
02:53conscious, I think, of the fact that he went to China to try and improve relations with China
03:00rather than to list a long list of complaints. He pointed out that when the U.S. had asked China
03:09back in 2022 to try and have some influence over Russia after Russia had made several threats,
03:15suggesting that it might be prepared to use nuclear weapons, China had played a really
03:19positive role. So, he was sort of trying to turn things around to make it sound more positive.
03:25And how did China approach these talks exactly?
03:28Well, you know, I mean, as I was just saying, you know, both sides came to this meeting
03:36mostly determined to try and improve relations. Both sides seeing this in the context
03:43of pretty sour relations up until the November summit between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping,
03:51which went well. Since then, there's been an uptick in the relations that the militaries of
03:56the two sides have begun talking to each other again. Tensions over Taiwan have eased. Trade is
04:04beginning to improve a bit. But, you know, what the Chinese are saying, I think, is, look, you
04:10know, don't see us as a threat. Don't see our development as a threat. See it in a positive
04:17light. This is a win-win situation for both countries, which would stabilize relations,
04:22improve and help move them forward. Same point made by Wang Yi, the foreign minister, as Xi,
04:30that, you know, this is a relationship that's been difficult, but which is at a turning point.
04:36China is going to continue to develop. The United States has a choice about how it approaches that,
04:42with hostility or to move forward with China in a more positive way. But to do that,
04:49the United States had to recognize that there are red lines that China will not allow to pass,
04:55and these include sovereignty. You mentioned Taiwan in your introduction, but also internal
05:00affairs of things like the Uyghurs, the Tibetans, security, the South China Sea, obviously a major
05:07concern there, the Indo-Pacific. The Chinese won't be happy about the fact that this bill that just
05:12went through the Senate last week, providing 95 billion for Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel, also gave
05:259 billion to Taiwan. So those are big issues for the Chinese. They will be very determined to try
05:31and make it clear to the Americans that they've really got to, if they want to improve the
05:37relationship, that they've really got to give some sort of way there as well.
05:40All right, France 24's Chief Foreign Editor Rob Parsons, thank you very much for your analysis.