Blinken tells Beijing: Stop boosting Russia or face punishments
Secretary of State Antony Blinken ended three days of meetings in China on Friday with a stark warning to Chinas leadership stop exporting materials that allow Russia to rebuild its industrial base or face U.S. sanctions.
Chinese state-owned firms are providing key components for Russias defense industrial base, including microelectronics and machine tools that have a material effect against Ukraine and constitute a growing threat that Russia poses to countries in Europe, Blinken told reporters in a press briefing in Beijing on Friday.
Blinken said that, in his meetings with Chinas leader Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, he made clear that the Biden administration is running out of patience with Beijings refusal to stop that support.
Were looking at the actions that were fully prepared to take if we dont see a change
weve already imposed sanctions on more than 100 Chinese entities, export controls and were fully prepared to take additional measures, Blinken said.
Blinken said that there has been important progress in stabilizing U.S.-China relations since President Joe Bidens meeting with Xi in San Francisco in November, but that key irritants including tensions over trade, Taiwan and Beijings increasingly aggressive incursions into Philippine waters of the South China Sea remain major obstacles.
Beijing didnt give an inch. U.S.-China ties risk a return to a downward spiral in bilateral ties because Chinas legitimate development rights have been unreasonably suppressed and our core interests are facing challenges, Wang told Blinken ahead of their meeting Friday.
[link:
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/26/blinken-beijing-russia-sanctions-00154556|