United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken criticized Beijing for its position on Ukraine and declared that he does not think China is maintaining neutrality on this topic, reports Bloomberg on Saturday.
He made such a statement after a meeting with the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, Wang Yi, which, according to the agency, lasted about five hours.
According to Blinken, during the meeting with Van, he told him that Beijing should “invite Russia to allow the export of grain” from Ukrainian ports blocked by its troops. Also, according to the agency, the American Secretary of State said that “China’s support for Russia at the UN is obvious”. However, Blinken called the negotiations “useful, frank and constructive”.
At the same time, the Asian media reports that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China issued a statement following the negotiations between Minister Wang Yi and Blinken, which states that the parties reached a consensus on the issue of establishing ties during the G20 meeting.
Before the negotiations, Van Yi declared that “we need to work together to guarantee that these relations will continue to develop in the right direction”.
This is the first personal meeting of Blinken and Van I since October last year.
Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe on Friday at a meeting with Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin said that Beijing is ready for military action if anyone makes an attempt to separate Taiwan from China, reports the Chinese edition of Global Times, citing a representative of the defense departments of the People’s Republic of China Wu Qian.
“According to Wu Qian’s statement, Wei Fenghe said that if anyone dares to separate Taiwan from China, the Chinese military will not hesitate to fight and resolutely suppress any attempt at ‘Taiwan independence’ at any cost, and will firmly defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.” , – writes the edition.
According to him, the Chinese defense minister also condemned the recent US decision to send arms to Taiwan again. He stated that this “caused serious damage to China-US relations, as well as peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”
Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin held a bilateral meeting on Friday in Singapore, where a security forum is being held. According to Chinese media company Caixin, Wei Fenghe noted that the meeting lasted about an hour and was “honest and successful.” The Pentagon said that the parties discussed issues of global and regional security, the topics of the DPRK, Russia and Ukraine, as well as Taiwan.
“The minister stressed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, rejection of a unilateral change in the status quo, and urged China to refrain from destabilizing actions against Taiwan,” the ministry said in a statement.
SkyUp Airlines (Kyiv) is planning to transport large volumes of cargo from China to Ukraine via Poland, Romania and Moldova, and is also developing a concept for transporting cargo from the United States, for which it is necessary to go through a special procedure for obtaining FAA permits.
According to the company’s website, the company is also in dialogue with Southern Airways Express (the USA) regarding the branding of their aircraft in the colors of the Ukrainian flag and is discussing the possibility of creating “sister airlines” that could attract SkyUp employees to work on an outsourcing basis.
According to the airline’s website, in March, SkyUp performed 21 evacuation flights on the Chisinau-Tel Aviv route and transported 2,835 refugees to Israel under the repatriation program, as well as their 124 pets.
Today, SkyUp is working on the possibility of performing evacuation flights to Portugal, Sweden and the UK under the Israel-Romania program.
In addition, SkyUp agreed with Suceava Airport (Romania) on the possibility of transporting cargo. This is the closest point to the border of Ukraine.
The company has now also confirmed shipments of humanitarian supplies from Portugal and Israel to Ukraine via Poland, including helmets and clothing for the army.
It is noted that during this time the company transported 112 tonnes of humanitarian cargo. The cargo included medicines, including insulin, baby food, personal hygiene and household chemicals, blankets, diapers, etc. The cargo was distributed according to its intended purpose: for the needs of Ukrainian refugees in Chisinau and various cities of Ukraine.
During the summit of the leaders of the European Union and China, which will be held on April 1, the main topic of discussion will be the war waged by Russia against Ukraine and its negative impact on the global security, economic and trade systems.
This was announced by the European Commission on the eve of the summit.
“Given the severity of recent developments, discussion during the summit is expected to focus on Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked aggression against Ukraine and its negative impact on the rules-based system, global security and economy,” the press release said.
In addition, the EU and Chinese leaders will review a comprehensive bilateral agenda between Brussels and Beijing, including trade and investment relations, climate action, digital technology, human rights, post-pandemic economic recovery, and regional issues.
The summit will be held in the format of a videoconference. The EU will be represented by the Presidents of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the Presidents of the European Council Charles Michel, with the participation of High Representative Josep Borrell, China – Prime Minister Li Keqiang.
The Meest international postal and logistics group with Ukrainian roots, through its subsidiary Meest China, has resumed the purchase and delivery of goods from China to Ukraine.
According to the company’s announcement on Wednesday, delivery to Ukraine of both postal items and commercial cargo is available.
Earlier, Meest resumed international delivery of parcels to the countries of the European Union: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.
At the same time, the company said on its website that due to the war on the territory of Ukraine [which Russia unleashed with its invasion on February 24] and the introduction of martial law in the country, the delivery time for international shipments to European countries may be extended and will depend on further development situations.
Washington hopes that China will exert the necessary influence on the Russian Federation in connection with the events in Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday.
“We believe China in particular has a responsibility to use its influence with President Putin and to defend the international rules and principles that it professes to support,” he said.
At the same time, Blinken recalled that the events in Ukraine will be one of the topics of a telephone conversation scheduled for Friday between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“President Biden will be speaking to President Xi tomorrow and will make clear that China will bear responsibility for any actions it takes to support Russia’s aggression, and we will not hesitate to impose costs,” Blinken said.
Later, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that the conversation between Biden and Xi Jinping would clarify China’s attitude towards the situation in Ukraine.
“This is an opportunity for President Biden to assess where President Xi stands,” she said.
