Their meeting was the subject of much speculation. While in Munich, Germany, for the Security Conference, US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi spoke to each other on Saturday evening, a State Department spokesman said. .
This dialogue comes in a tense context between the United States and China, after the American army shot down a Chinese balloon. It took place in a place that was not immediately disclosed, away from the media, the same source said. The “frank and candid” exchange lasted about an hour, a senior State Department official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
During their meeting, Antony Blinken insisted to his counterpart that the affair of the Chinese balloon, which flew over American territory for several days, had been an “irresponsible act which must never happen again”. This incident forced Blinken to postpone in extremis a rare trip to Beijing scheduled for early February and reignited tensions between the two major rival powers.
The United States does not want a “new cold war”
“The Secretary of State made it clear to him that the United States will not tolerate any violation of its sovereignty and that China’s high-altitude surveillance balloon program has been exposed to the eyes of the world,” the carrier continued. word of the State Department.
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“Regarding Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine, the Secretary warned of the implications and consequences if China is found to provide material support to Russia or help it evade sanctions” imposed by the Westerners.
Antony Blinken, however, reiterated to Wang Yi that the United States does not seek “conflict” with China or a “new cold war” and that Washington intends to keep the lines of communication open with Beijing despite their differences.
Indictment against the United States
Earlier this Saturday, the head of Chinese diplomacy delivered a violent charge against Washington before an audience of international leaders and experts. First target: the American reaction deemed “absurd and hysterical” to the balloon affair. “There are a lot of balloons in the sky, from different countries. Do you want to shoot every one of them? This does not show that America is strong,” Wang Yi got carried away at the podium.
For this senior diplomat, “it is a 100% abuse of the use of force”. It was a simple weather research balloon that accidentally drifted into American airspace, the head of diplomacy had repeated. “We urge the United States not to do such absurd things just to divert attention from its domestic problems,” Wang Yi warned.