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Washington has seen evidence of attempts by Beijing to “influence and arguably interfere” in this year’s US elections, the secretary of state has said during a trip to China, also warning that Chinese companies face new sanctions if they do not stop supplying material and equipment to the Russian arms industry.
Antony Blinken told CNN that he had reiterated Joe Biden’s message to Xi Jinping not to interfere in November’s vote – a warning that reportedly received assurances from the Chinese president that he would not do so. Asked whether China was keeping to its promise, Blinken said: “We have seen, generally speaking, evidence of attempts to influence, and arguably interfere, and we want to make sure that that’s cut off as quickly as possible.
“Any interference by China in our election is something that we’re looking very carefully at and is totally unacceptable to us.”
- But earlier on Friday China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, said “disruptions” could reverse recent improvements in US-China relations and lead to a “downward spiral” of rivalry, confrontation and even conflict.
- Speaking to reporters at the end of a three-day visit to China, Blinken acknowledged there had been improvements in relations since a summit in San Francisco in November between Xi and Biden.
He pointed to cooperation on counter-narcotics, the revival of contacts between the militaries of both countries, and he announced the first US-China talks on the security risks of artificial intelligence development, which he said would take place in the coming weeks.
“China is the top supplier of machine tools, micro electronics, nitrocellulose, which is critical to making munitions, and rocket propellants, and other dual-use items that Moscow is using to ramp up its defence industrial base,” Blinken said. “Russia would struggle to sustain its assault on Ukraine without China’s support.”
He said Washington’s NATO allies and G7 partners saw the issue in the same light. “Fuelling Russia’s defence industrial base not only threatens Ukrainian security, it threatens European security. Beijing cannot achieve better relations with Europe while supporting the greatest threat to European security since the end of the cold war.”
He added: “I made clear that if China does not address this problem, we will. We’ve already imposed sanctions on more than 100 Chinese entities, export controls, et cetera. As before, we are prepared to act to take additional measures, and I made that very clear in my meetings today.”
- “You’ll recall that well over a year ago we had concerns that Russia was considering possibly using a nuclear weapon,” he said. “I believe that China’s voice was important, at least at that time, in moving Russia away from that possible course of action.”
Xi, in his own remarks at the start of his meeting with Blinken, did not directly address Chinese policy on Russia and Ukraine. The Chinese president said he hoped the US could look at China’s development in a positive light.
