US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday (local time) told senior Chinese officials that the country's activities in places like Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as its cyberattacks on the US and economic coercion of US allies threaten the rules-based order and warned Beijing of respecting global order or facing a 'more violent world'.
Blinken made these remarks after he and national security adviser Jake Sullivan met their Chinese counterparts - Wang Yi and Yang Jiechi - in Alaska, a key first meeting in the relationship, reported CNN.
Blinken said the US intends to defend the "rules-based order that maintains global stability" without which there would be a "much more violent world" and said that Chinese activities in places like Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as its cyberattacks on the US and economic coercion of US allies threaten the rules-based order that maintains global stability. He also denied these affairs to be 'internal matters'.
"Our administration is committed to leading with diplomacy to advance the interests of the United States and to strengthen the rules-based international order... That system is not an abstraction. It helps countries resolve differences peacefully, coordinate multilateral efforts effectively and participate in global commerce with the assurance that everyone is following the same rules. The alternative to a rules-based order is a world in which might makes right and winners take all. And that would be a far more violent and unstable world for all of us," he said.
China's increasing aggression in the East and South China Seas and its human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, which the US administration has designated as genocide, has been a point of global concern and scorn. It has also been globally rebuked for imposing repressive national security in Hong Kong and overhauling the city's electoral system.
Blinken had earlier called China "the biggest geopolitical test of the 21st century" and President Joe Biden has vowed to "out-compete" with the country.
According to CNN, the lead-up to the meeting suggested that US will not shift from the increasingly tough position on Beijing taken by the Trump administration, but Biden's team has said it plans to apply those tougher standards more effectively by working closely with allies.
The White House said that it was "important" that the meeting happens on US soil, and senior administration officials stressed that the presence of both Blinken and Sullivan demonstrates a strong united front.
"This is a very deliberate and visual demonstration of that from the get-go that we think is really important for helping to inform and shape how China seeks to engage with us," one senior official told reporters this week.
"The games that China has played in the past to divide us or attempt to divide us are simply not going to work here," the official added.
Blinken along with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had recently visited South Korea and Japan to emphasise US unity with its Asian allies, along with taking a tough stance on China for human rights abuses.
The meeting comes as Russia and China announced their own bilateral gathering next week, a diplomatic show of force that highlights their growing cooperation. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov would travel to South Korean to meet officials there as well, CNN reported.
( With inputs from ANI )
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