Blinken To Press At The Meeting With Chinese on Uyghur Genocide
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US State Secretary Anthony Blinken said the Biden administration is committed to work with U.S. allies and those in the region as they face challenges from Communist China.
Japan and the United States joined forces Tuesday to criticize China's “coercion and aggression" in Asia as senior ministers from both countries held their first in-person talks since President Joe Biden took office in January.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, after holding the so-called “two plus two” security talks with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and their Japanese counterparts-Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi - said the Biden administration is committed to work with U.S. allies and those in the region as they face challenges from Communist China.
We’re united in the vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, where countries follow the rules, cooperate whenever they can and resolve their differences peacefully, Mr. Blinken said. We will push back if necessary, when China uses coercion or aggression to get its way, he assured.
Strong worry over human rights in Xinjiang, East Turkistan
In a joint statement released after the talks, the ministers shared strong worry over Beijing’s human rights violations in Xinjiang, “unlawful maritime claims and activities in the South China Sea” and “unilateral action that seeks to change the status quo” over the Japan- controlled East China Sea islands that China also claims. The statement also stressed the importance of “peace and stability” in the Taiwan Strait.
The ministers committed to opposing coercion and destabilizing behavior toward others in the region, which undermines the rules-based international system, the statement read in part.
Mr. Blinken and White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan surely will raise each of those issues directly with Chinese officials when the two sides meet Thursday in Anchorage, Alaska. It will be the highest-level face-to-face meeting between U.S. and Chinese leaders since Mr. Biden took office in January.
Ahead of that meeting, analysts say, the administration must understand that even its closest allies such as Japan and South Korea may not necessarily back every U.S. policy toward China on every issue.
Ryan Hass, senior fellow with the Brookings Institution’s Center for East Asia Policy Studies in Washington DC, said the Biden administration will find regional partners in Asia, along with allies around the world, willing to work with the U.S. “on an ad hoc, issue-by-issue basis” rather than adopting a broad anti-China policy that mirrors Washington on all fronts.
Countries will join the United States in seeking to influence Beijing based on their own priorities and how China relates to them, he wrote in an analysis this week. For some, the goal might be to push Beijing to halt its problematic behavior. For others, it might be to press China to exercise greater leadership in addressing global challenges such as climate change. To weave together issue-based coalitions, the United States will need to meet partners where they are, rather than demanding that they accept Washington’s perception of a China threat, he emphasised.