Antony Blinken criticises China and Russia in interview, weighs new sanctions against North Korea

The US Secretary of State took issue with Beijing’s actions in Hong Kong, and said the US should accept people fleeing the crackdown in the city

Blinken also told NBC News he was ‘deeply disturbed by the violent crackdown’ on Russian protesters supporting opposition leader Navalny

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A protester displays a placard to support democracy advocate Jimmy Lai outside Hong Kong‘s Court of Final Appeal. Photo: AP

Published: 10:29pm, 1 Feb 2021Updated: 12:45am, 2 Feb 2021

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken sharply criticised China over its actions in Hong Kong, saying it acted “egregiously” to undermine the city, and that the US should accept people fleeing the crackdown there.

“If they’re the victims of repression from Chinese authorities, we should do something to give them haven,” he said in an interview with NBC News.

In addition, he took issue with China’s lack of transparency with regard to the Covid-19 pandemic as a “profound problem”, saying Beijing is falling far short in allowing experts access to the sites where the coronavirus was discovered.

Blinken also said in the interview that he was “deeply disturbed by the violent crackdown” on Russian protesters on Sunday and arrests across the country of people demanding the release of Navalny, a prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. More than 5,300 people were detained in a massive show of force.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Moscow would ignore Blinken’s comments and warned Washington against imposing any new sanctions.

“The Russian government makes a big mistake if it believes that this is about us,” Blinken said in the interview. “It’s about them. It’s about the government. It’s about the frustration that the Russian people have with corruption, with autocracy, and I think they need to look inward, not outward.”