US Secretary of State Antony Blinken with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Beijing, June 19, 2023
UPDATE, JUNE 20:
I continued my analysis of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s talks in Beijing, including with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, in a conversation with PTV World’s Sana Maqbool on Monday afternoon.
Political analyst Farrukh Pitafi and I consider US-China relations in the context not only of Taiwan and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but also of global issues such as food, energy, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
ORIGINAL ENTRY, JUNE 19: I joined Times Radio’s Stig Abell on Monday morning to analyze the two-day visit of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Beijing.
Chatting after Blinken’s talks with Foreign Minister Qin Gang and before his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, I focus on Washington and Beijing renewing the “rules of the game” — from economic competition to China’s claim on Taiwan to Beijing’s shifting position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
It’s unlikely that China will distance itself from Russia when Japan is re-militarising and NATO is establishing itself in the region. There’s talk of a NATO office opening in Tokyo. These are threats that both powers share. President Obama once said that Russia is a “regional power.” Putin’s response: “Which one?”