Top China diplomat Wang Yi tells US counterpart Antony Blinken all sides must ‘proactively guide’ the Taliban
- In phone conversation, Wang says coordination between China and the US over Afghanistan would depend on Washington’s policies towards Beijing in other areas
- He accuses US of ‘double standard’ in efforts to eradicate terrorism in Afghanistan
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday about Afghanistan, accusing Washington of using “double standards” in its efforts to eradicate terrorism in the country and urged Blinken to do more to stop the violence that has rocked Kabul.
While Wang called for “all sides to contact and proactively guide the Taliban”, he warned that coordination between China and the US would depend on Washington’s policies towards Beijing in other areas, including efforts to investigate the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
Pushback by Beijing against the World Health Organization (WTO) and the US over access to information about the earliest known Covid-19 cases in China prompted US President Biden to order his intelligence community to conduct a three-month investigation into whether the contagion might have escaped from a lab.
“China will consider how to contact the US based on the US‘s attitude towards China,” the ministry’s announcement on Sunday quoted Wang as saying. “If the US wants bilateral relations back to a normal track, it should stop smearing China, hurting China’s interests on sovereignty, security and development.