US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken rebuked China for supporting Russia after meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi for more than five hours on Saturday. At a news conference on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Bali, Indonesia, Blinken said, “G20 nations have come together to address some of the most critical challenges facing people around the world, including the far-reaching consequences of of Russian aggression against Ukraine, especially increasing food insecurity, rising energy prices. “We heard the majority of countries condemn Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine,” he added. However, he said, “What you hear from Beijing is that it claims to be neutral. I would start by suggesting that it is very difficult to be neutral when it comes to this aggression.” “There is a clear aggressor, there is a clear victim, there is a clear challenge not only to the lives and livelihoods of people in Ukraine, but there is a challenge to the international order that China and the United States as permanent members of the Security Council is supposed to support,” Blinken added, “I don’t think China, in fact, is involved in a way that suggests neutrality,” he said. “More than 11 million people in Ukraine have fled their homes since the start of the offensive. This is more than a quarter of Ukraine’s total population. These are huge numbers and will only increase as the war continues,” he said. More than four months after this brutal invasion, the PRC (China) is still standing by Russia, cycling Russian propaganda around the world,” Blinken added.
