UNITED STATES: US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken mentioned on Wednesday that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is being observed “very carefully” by China, which is critically analysing Washington’s and the West’s response to the same, despite not yet crossing the line of giving lethal aid to Moscow.
Blinken said in a senate hearing with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow that Russia would actually “open Pandora’s box” if it lodged a series of conflicts in Ukraine, that would in turn, result in a “world of conflict”. Jingping and Putin greeted each other as “dear friends” as they met in the Kremlin, where they initiated talks on the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
Blinken iterates, “They have a marriage of convenience—I’m not sure if it’s conviction. Russia is very much a junior partner in this relationship.”
“Given that Japan and South Korea have major support for the Ukrainian cause, this attack would impact Asia. The stakes in Ukraine go well beyond Ukraine. I think it has a profound impact on Asia, for example. As we speak today, we have not seen them cross that line,” he added.
China’s military stance in line with Taiwan would also be influenced by Russia. Taiwan is a self-governing island that Beijing considers to be a sovereign Chinese territory. As Blinken states, “I think if China’s looking at this, and they are looking at it very carefully, they will draw lessons for how the world comes together, or doesn’t, to stand up to this aggression.”
The State Department and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), as per Blinken, would require President Joe Biden’s budget request with an 11% increase from the previous year to manage the Russia-Ukraine situation. He mentions, “The post-Cold War world is over, and there is an intense competition underway to determine what comes next.”
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