China acting ‘more aggressively abroad’: Antony Blinken
- US secretary of state discusses US-China relations in 60 Minutes interview
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview that was broadcast on Sunday that China had recently acted “more aggressively abroad” and was behaving “increasingly in adversarial ways”.
Asked by CBS News’ 60 Minutes if Washington was heading toward a military confrontation with Beijing, Blinken said: “It’s profoundly against the interests of both China and the United States to get to that point, or even to head in that direction”.
He added: “What we’ve witnessed over the last several years is China acting more repressively at home and more aggressively abroad. That is a fact.”
Asked about the reported theft of hundreds of billions of dollars or more in US trade secrets and intellectual property by China, Blinken said the Biden administration had “real concerns” about the IP issue.
He said it sounded like the actions “of someone who is trying to compete unfairly and increasingly in adversarial ways. But we’re much more effective and stronger when we’re bringing like-minded and similarly aggrieved countries together to say to Beijing: ‘This can’t stand and it won’t stand.’”
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The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond on Sunday to a request for comment on Blinken’s interview.