(26 Apr 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
++SOUNDBITES SEPARATED BY BLACK FRAMES++
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Beijing – 26 April 2024
1. Wide of Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State, at news conference
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State:
"Fueling Russia’s defense industrial base not only threatens Ukrainian, it threatens European security. Beijing cannot achieve better relations with Europe while supporting the greatest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War."
++BLACK FRAMES++
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State:
"I also expressed our concern about the PRC’s unfair trade practices and the potential consequences of industrial overcapacity for global and U.S. markets, especially in a number of key interest industries that will drive the 21st century economy like solar panels, electric vehicles and the batteries that power them. China alone is producing more than 100% of global demand for these products flooding markets undermining competition, putting at risk livelihoods and businesses around the world."
++BLACK FRAMES++
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State:
"In today’s meetings I discussed the PRC’s dangerous actions in the South China Sea, including against routine Philippine maintenance operations, maritime operations near the Second Thomas Shoal (locally called Ayungin Shoal). Freedom of navigation and commerce in these waterways is not only critical to the Philippines, but to the U.S. and to every other nation in the Indo-Pacific and indeed around the world."
++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Friday with Chinese President Xi Jinping and senior Chinese officials, stressing the importance of “responsibly managing” the differences between the United States and China as the two sides butted heads over a number of contentious bilateral, regional and global issues.
Talks between the two sides have increased in recent months, even as differences have grown.
Blinken said he raised concerns with Xi about China’s support for Russia and its invasion of Ukraine, as well as other issues including Taiwan and the South China Sea, human rights and the production and export of synthetic opioid precursors.
Blinken sounded a positive note on recent progress made in bilateral cooperation, including in military communications, counternarcotics and artificial intelligence.
But he said he made clear to Xi ongoing concerns about Beijing’s supply of materials, including machine tools and micro electronics, to Moscow that President Vladimir Putin is using to boost Russia’s defenses and its war on Ukraine.
“Fueling Russia’s defense industrial base not only threatens Ukrainian security, it threatens European security,” he added.
Blinken also said he urged China to use its influence “to discourage Iran and its proxies from expanding the conflict in the Middle East” and convince North Korea “to end its dangerous behavior and engage in dialogue.”
Blinken also discussed with Xi China’s maritime maneuvers in the disputed South China Sea, and reiterated “ironclad” American support for the Philippines, its oldest treaty ally in Asia.
Blinken arrived in China on Wednesday, visiting Shanghai shortly before Biden signed the $95 billion foreign aid package that has several elements likely to anger Beijing, including $8 billion to counter China’s growing aggressiveness toward Taiwan and in the South China Sea.
AP video shot by Olivia Zhang
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