In the interview with the television network, the head of North American diplomacy indicated this Friday that he repeated Joe Biden’s words to the Chinese president at the San Francisco summit, in the United States, in November 2023.
At the time, Xi Jinping assured the American president that there would be no interference from Beijing in the November 5 elections after Biden indicated that any attempt in this direction would be unacceptable.
“President Biden was very clear with President Xi and I repeated this today, in the meetings I participated in. (…) Any interference by China in our election, something we are following closely, is completely unacceptable to us”said the US Secretary of State.
Asked directly about reports of interference through Chinese accounts that imitate supporters of Donald Trump, the American official does not confirm this information, but acknowledges that there is “evidence” of attempted interference.
“We have generally seen evidence of attempts to influence and possibly interfere, and we want to make sure this is stopped as quickly as possible.”said Anthony Blinken.
This was the US Secretary of State’s second trip to China in less than a year. The two superpowers keep bilateral lines of contact open, even though there is little progress on controversial issues.
In a meeting with his North American counterpart this Friday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned Washington not to “step on Beijing’s red lines”.
The Chinese official did not specify which red lines he was referring to, but At this point, there are several issues that oppose the two countries, from the tension over Taiwan and the South China Sea, the war in Ukraine, or even economic relations and exports of advanced technology.
At a press conference, the US Secretary of State drew attention to China’s support for the Russian war effort in Ukraine, with the supply of “dual-use” goods.
“China is the main supplier of machine tools, microelectronics, nitrocellulose, which is essential for the manufacture of ammunition and missile propellants, and other dual-use items that Moscow is using to increase its defense industrial base,” he explained. , without indicating whether the United States plans to impose new sanctions against Beijing.
In turn, China guarantees that it is not supplying weapons to any of the parties involved in the conflict and is not a “party involved”, but simply does not interrupt or restrict regular trade with Russia.
At an economic level, the Chinese president also accused the United States of taking “endless” measures to suppress China’s economy, trade, science and technology.
“This is a fundamental issue that must be addressed, just like the first button on a shirt that must be placed correctly, for the relationship between China and the US to truly stabilize, improve and move forward,” said Xi Jinping.
However, Blinken’s visit ended in a more informal and unusual moment, with the US Secretary of State visiting a music store in Beijing, where he purchased an album by a Chinese rock music star, Dou Wei, and the album “Midnights”, by American artist Taylor Swift.
Music “is the best connection [entre os povos]regardless of geography”, highlighted the head of North American diplomacy, an avowed music lover.
According to Reuters, Antony Blinken also revealed that President Xi Jinping intends to reinforce exchanges between the two countries, particularly with the increase in North American students in China.
The US Secretary of State stressed that there are more than 290,000 Chinese students in the United States but only 900 North American students studying in China.
