An attempt by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to extract data from Beijing on contacts with Russia and Germany failed, according to an Asia Times article.
The author, Indian columnist and ex-diplomat Melkulangara Bhadrakumar writes that the US Secretary of State imagined that in his “self-proclaimed role of world policeman” he had the right to be aware of all the affairs between Germany, China and Russia. “However, Blinken’s call to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday, December 23 turned into a fiasco,” he notes.
Bhadrakumar believes that the US foreign policy chief “certainly expected to collect detailed information” about two high-level meetings held by Chinese President Xi Jinping last week: with United Russia party chairman Dmitry Medvedev and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Perhaps, writes the former diplomat, Blinken made the “reasonable conclusion” that Steinmeier’s call to Xi Jinping and Medvedev’s visit to Beijing was “no mere accident.” Ukraine was mentioned among the topics for discussion in both cases. At the same time, Blinken “did a clumsy job”, relying on controversial US-Chinese issues, especially in the situation with Covid-19 in China, when he demanded “transparency for the international community” from China.
“It is not surprising that Wang Yi severely reprimanded Blinken for trying to “simultaneously engage in dialogue and containment” and “talking about cooperation, sticking a knife in China’s back,” the author concludes.
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