“SPY BALLOON”
Similarly in doubt on the sidelines of the two-day G20 gathering in New Delhi was a meeting between Blinken and his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang.
Blinken had a fiery encounter with top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi last month in Germany after the US shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon over its east coast on Feb 4.
The incident led Blinken to nix a rare trip to China, slamming the “unacceptable violation of US sovereignty and international law” which “must never again occur”, the State Department said.
Beijing, which has also been angered by Washington’s stance on Taiwan, denies it uses spy balloons and says the craft was for weather research.
Wang “urged the US side to change course” and “acknowledge and repair the damage that its excessive use of force caused to China-US relations”, state news agency Xinhua reported.
“MATERIAL SUPPORT”
Blinken also warned Wang against providing “material support” to Russia’s faltering war effort, as is speculated in Washington. Beijing denies any such intention.
Xinhua quoted Wang last week as saying that China was willing to “strengthen strategic coordination” with Russia after meeting Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Blinken was also expected to meet on Friday his counterparts from the other members of the Quad group – Japan, Australia and India – that is seen as a bulwark against China in the Asia-Pacific region.
AWKWARD HOSTS
The Group of Twenty comprises 19 countries and the European Union, representing around 85 per cent of the world’s economy and two-thirds of its population.
India wants its G20 presidency this year to focus on issues like climate finance and alleviating poverty, but the Ukraine war and its effects are set to dominate the agenda.
Last week a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Bengaluru failed to agree on a common statement after Russia and China sought to water down language on the Ukraine war.
Hosting the G20 puts India in a tricky position, because while it shares Western concerns about China, it is also a major buyer of Russian arms and has ramped up oil imports.
India has not condemned the invasion, although Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Putin last year that this was “not a time for war” in comments seen as a rebuke to Moscow.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Saturday on a visit to India that he did not believe that Modi’s government “is under any illusions that this is an offensive war started by Russia in order to acquire a part of its neighbour’s territory”.