Antony Blinken does not plan to meet China’s foreign minister at G20 session next week
- The US Secretary of State and Wang Yi of China will both attend a Group of 20 session in Italy, but an official says no discussion is expected
- Beijing may be reluctant to discuss a meeting between Biden and Xi following latest Xinjiang sanctions, says one observer
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is not expecting to meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during the Group of 20 meeting in Italy next week, a department official said on Friday.
“There is no meeting planned between Secretary Blinken and the Chinese foreign minister at the G20 ministerial,” Susannah Cooper, director of the department’s Office of Monetary Affairs, told reporters.
Blinken and Italian Foreign Minister Luigi De Maio will co-host the meeting on Monday, which will focus on the humanitarian crisis in Syria, said Patrick Worman, acting director of the department’s Office of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.
Other objectives include “ways to sustain pressure in Iraq and Syria and counter ISIS networks globally, including in Africa”, Worman said.
