Washington, Feb 16 (EFE).- United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference (MSC).
File photo of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. EFE-EPA/Aamir Qureshi/Pool
Blinken and Wang will meet at 3:30 pm in the German city, where the conference kicks off on Friday with around 50 heads of state and government, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Israeli President Isaac Herzog, in attendance, according to the agenda of the US State Department.
Their meeting, which is yet to be confirmed by China, occurs amid an increase in high-level diplomatic exchanges between both countries after a face-to-face meeting between Chinese and US presidents, Xi Jinping and Joe Biden, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco in November.
At that meeting, the leaders eased bilateral tensions at the lowest point in ties in recent decades due to trade and technological disputes and disagreements over Taiwan, among other issues, and agreed to reopen lines of military communication and promote diplomatic channels.
At the end of January, Wang held a meeting with the US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, during which they addressed the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, the resource-rich South China Sea that Beijing claims almost in its entirety, and Taiwan, a self-governed island that China does not rule out invading and that the US has committed in principle to defend.
These issues are also expected to be discussed by Blinken and Wang along with the situation in the Red Sea, with Washington pressuring Beijing to use its influence with Iran to persuade the Houthi rebels, considered to be backed by Tehran, to stop their attacks on ships.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell, US Vice President Kamala Harris and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg are also scheduled to attend the conference along with 60 foreign ministers and 25 defense ministers. EFE
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