Antony Blinken met with Chinese Foreign Minister to demand an end to pressure on Taiwan and transparency to investigate the origin of COVID-19

The head of American diplomacy, Antoine Blink, on Friday called on China to be more transparent about the origin of COVID-19 and to reduce pressure on Taiwan, during an exceptional appeal with a senior Chinese official.

Blinken, who called his Chinese counterpart from the G7 summit in England Yang jiechi, “stressed the importance of cooperation and transparency regarding the origin of the virus“Including allowing experts from the World Health Organization to return to China, according to a statement from the US State Department.

The president of the United States, Joe biden, asked American intelligence at the end of May – which is torn between the thesis of an animal origin of the virus and that of a leak from a laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan – that “redouble your efforts“To explain the origin of COVID-19 and submit a report within 90 days.

Antony Blinken also asked Beijing to “end your pressure campaign against Taiwan” and “resolve peacefully“Problems related to the island.

He mentioned the “to worry“From the United States by”genocide and crimes against humanity in progress“Directed, according to the US government, against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. He also referred to the “deterioration of democratic standards in Hong Kong”..

This is the first exchange between the two officials since their extremely tense meeting in March in Anchorage, Alaska, in which the two rival great powers showed their differences to cameras around the world, giving the impression of a gap. impassable.

According to US and Chinese reports, the tone was once again confrontational.

The US Secretary of State again requested the “”immediate launch“Western citizens victims of”arbitrary arrests” in China.

The officials also spoke about issues where their countries have, according to Washington, common interests, such as North Korea and “the need for the United States and the People’s Republic of China to work together to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula,” as well as issues related to Iran, Burma and the climate crisis.

(With information from AFP)

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