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US-China relations
China

US ‘more aligned’ with allies on China, Russia, Biden’s top diplomat says

  • Washington is in a stronger position to stop ‘China’s efforts to challenge the rules-based international order’, Blinken says
  • Call with Lithuanian leader assures support amid ‘coercive diplomatic and economic behaviour’

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Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivers year-end remarks for 2021 during a news conference at the State Department in Washington on Tuesday. Photo: AP
Jacob Fromerin Washington
As the Joe Biden presidency wraps up its first year, Washington’s top diplomat said on Tuesday that US efforts to strengthen its alliances around the world over the last 11 months had put the country in a stronger position to take on China going forward.
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“We’re much more aligned with our allies and partners now than we were a year ago on nearly every issue,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters at the State Department, “including Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine and its neighbours, Iran’s nuclear programme, and China’s efforts to challenge the rules-based international order.”
Blinken made the comments as tensions continue to soar in the US-China relationship on a wide range of issues, from human rights in the far-west Xinjiang region to Hong Kong’s autonomy to the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
Yang Jiechi, director of the China’s Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, at the start of the high-level strategic dialogue with the United States in Anchorage, Alaska in March. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan attended the dialogue. Photo: Xinhua
Yang Jiechi, director of the China’s Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, at the start of the high-level strategic dialogue with the United States in Anchorage, Alaska in March. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan attended the dialogue. Photo: Xinhua
In a separate announcement, he also pledged support for Lithuania in the Baltic nation’s ongoing row with Beijing.

From the earliest days of the administration, Biden and his foreign policy team have emphasised that they view allies as essential in any competition with Beijing.

Blinken said on Tuesday that after nearly a year of close engagement with allies around the world, the US was now set up to challenge China more effectively than it otherwise would be able to do.

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“Much of our work this year has been about rebuilding the foundations of American foreign policy,” he said, adding that “the world doesn’t organise itself when we’re not engaged”.

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