In his first phone call to his Chinese counterpart, Yuan Yi, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken affirmed that Washington will defend human rights and democratic values in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong.
The US State Department said in a statement today, Saturday, that Blinken pressed China to condemn the military coup in Myanmar, and reiterated that Washington would work with allies to hold China accountable for attempts to threaten stability in the Indian and Pacific oceans, including across the Taiwan Strait.
Blinken said earlier, before taking office officially, that China poses the biggest challenge to the United States more than any other country.
He considered that the United States should “start the rapprochement with China from the principle of strength, not the principle of weakness,” noting that part of that strength is in working with allies and participating with international institutions.
The US State Department said at the beginning of this week that it was “very disturbed” by media reports of rape and torture of women in Chinese camps for the Muslim minority of Uighurs.
For its part, the Chinese Foreign Ministry denied the authenticity of the report, which was published by the “BBC” channel about violations against the Muslim minority, describing it as a “liar”, and demanding the channel’s management to submit an apology.
Source: Reuters
