China renews its promise not to supply arms to Russia

A word given again. “We, as well as other countries, have received assurances from China that it does not and will not provide lethal aid to Russia for use in Ukraine”, said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Monday, June 19, from Beijing. This is the first visit by a US secretary of state to China since 2018.

This was held in a tense context between Beijing and Washington. Earlier in the day, the Chinese Communist Party’s top official for diplomacy, Wang Yi, said the United States had to choose between “cooperation or conflict” with Beijing. “It is necessary to make a choice between dialogue and confrontation”, he added, according to a report by Chinese public television. American side, Antony Blinken declared that he had made the observation with the Chinese leaders of the need for “stabilize” their relationships, while remaining “lucid” on deep bilateral disagreements.

Many disputes

“Maintaining national unity is always at the heart of China’s fundamental interests” And “on this issue, China will not make any compromises or concessions” about Taiwan, the Chinese diplomat said. China considers Taiwan one of its provinces, which it has yet to successfully reunify with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949.

In addition to the very thorny question of the island claimed by Beijing, other subjects strain Sino-American bilateral relations. Among them are technological rivalry, US sanctions targeting Chinese digital giants, trade, the treatment of the Muslim Uyghur minority in China and Chinese claims in the South China Sea.

Antony Blinken has been in China since Sunday, the first visit by a US secretary of state to the country since 2018. He had canceled a planned trip in February due to the overflight of the United States by a Chinese spy balloon. The American diplomat is meeting President Xi Jinping on Monday.