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The U.S. government has warned China against giving any support to Russia related to its invasion of Ukraine.
We’ll detail the specifics of the warning, plus more on new Pentagon reforms meant to make housing, moving and groceries cheaper for troops.
Plus: A letter from employees within the Department of Homeland Security’s watchdog office urges President Biden to fire their boss.
This is Defense & National Security, your nightly guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond. For The Hill, I’m Ellen Mitchell. Subscribe here.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday warned Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi against Beijing providing any support to Russia related to its invasion of Ukraine, during a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
China maintains close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin but has held back from explicitly endorsing the invasion and avoided carrying out actions that would directly position itself as violating U.S.-led global sanctions on Russia.
The message: Blinken “reiterated the United States’ condemnation of Russia’s war against Ukraine and highlighted the implications if the PRC [People’s Republic of China] were to provide support to Moscow’s invasion of a sovereign state,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in the statement.
“He underscored that the United States remains open to cooperating with the PRC where our interests intersect.”
Blinken stressed the need for the U.S. to maintain open lines of communication with Beijing to de-escalate tensions, Price said in the statement.
Timing: The meeting came amid heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing following President Biden’s remarks in an interview published Sunday that the U.S. would defend Taiwan if China decided to invade.
“[Blinken] emphasized that the United States is committed to maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, consistent with our longstanding one China policy,” Price said.
“The Secretary stressed that preserving peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is critical to regional and global security and prosperity.”
Devolving relations: The U.S. position toward Taiwan — and Biden’s statements that American forces would defend the democratic island, which have been issued repeatedly — have infuriated the Chinese, which view the island as a rogue territory that will eventually unify with the mainland.
Relations between Washington and Beijing have continued to devolve over a host of security, military, geopolitical, economic and environmental issues.
