China’s foreign minister signals deeper ties with Russia

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BEIJING (AP) December, 25 Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday defended what he said was China’s impartial stance on the war in Ukraine. That suggests China will deepen its ties with Russia next year.

Wang also addressed a conference in China’s capital via video, saying China “strongly rejected the United States’ flawed China policy” and criticized the United States for deteriorating relations between the world’s two largest economies. criticized.

China has resisted Western pressure on China’s claims to trade, technology, human rights, and much of the Western Pacific, accusing the United States of bullying. His refusal to join other countries in condemning aggression against Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia has further torn ties and looms a split with much of Europe.

Wang said China will deepen “strategic mutual trust and mutually beneficial cooperation” with Russia. Warships from the two countries held joint naval drills in the East China Sea last week.

Even as China has found common ground with Russia as both come under Western pressure, its economic future remains tied to American and European markets and technology. Leader Xi Jinping is pushing Chinese industry to become more self-sufficient, but Wang acknowledged that experience has shown “that China and the United States cannot decouple or sever supply chains.”

He said that China would strive to bring relations with the U.S. back on course, saying they had plunged because “the United States has stubbornly continued to see China as its primary competitor and engage in blatant blockade, suppression and provocation against China.”

Wang and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken talked by phone late last week. The State Department said that Blinken discussed the need to manage U.S.-China relations responsibly and raised concerns about Russia’s war against Ukraine and the threats it poses to global security and economic stability.

Wang accused the U.S. of “unilateral bullying” and said that China would continue to play a constructive role in resolving the Ukraine crisis in its own way, a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said.