By US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has issued a warning, stating that Washington will take action if China continues to provide Russia with items used in its attack on Ukraine.
Speaking to the BBC in Beijing, the US’s top diplomat said he had made clear to his counterparts they were “helping fuel the biggest threat” to European security since the Cold War.
While he did not specify the measures the US was ready to take, Mr. Blinken emphasized that progress had been achieved in certain areas.
He commended Beijing for its efforts to halt the supply of the drug fentanyl from reaching the US.
China continues to be the primary source of fentanyl for the US, which the White House has identified as a major contributor to a public health crisis across the country.
Mr Blinken also stressed he felt Beijing can play a “constructive” role in the Middle East, pointing towards China using “its relationship with Iran to urge” against further escalation in its confrontation with Israel.
Mr. Blinken’s visit, his second in 10 months, signifies a notable uptick in dialogue and diplomacy between these competing powers. This surge in engagement aims to stabilize relations following a period of intense tension last year.
The relationship between Washington and Beijing has been strained by China’s territorial claims in Taiwan and the South China Sea, as well as US export restrictions on advanced technology. Additional strain was added by a dispute over a spy balloon in February last year.
In recent days, the US passed a law that would force Chinese-owned TikTok to sell the hugely popular video app or be banned in America – something Mr Blinken earlier revealed had not come up in his meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping.
Mr Xi – who met Mr Blinken on Friday afternoon in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People – agreed the two sides had “made some positive progress” since he met his US counterpart, Joe Biden, in November.
He added the countries should “be partners, not rivals”, saying that if the US took “a positive view of China’s development”, relations could “truly stabilise, get better and move forward”.
Mr Blinken told the BBC that one of the key routes for “better relations” between China and both the US and Europe would be for Beijing “or some of its enterprises” to stop providing “critical components” that help Russia make more munitions. The components include items such as “machine tools, micro-electronics, and optics”.
“It’s helping Russia perpetuate its aggression against Ukraine, but it’s also creating a growing threat to Europe because of Russia’s aggression,” he explained, adding it was “helping to fuel the biggest threat to [Europe’s] insecurity since the end of the Cold War”.
“We’ve taken action already against Chinese entities that are engaged in this,” he said. “And what I make clear today is that if China won’t act, we will.”
Mr Blinken – who hinted at sanctions as a possible route – was keen to stress that China was not directly supplying Russia with weapons.
In his interview with the BBC, Mr Blinken said it remained important to see if the two countries could “build greater cooperation in areas where we have mutual interest”, including artificial intelligence and military communications.
