Blinken Meets His Chinese Counterpart Amid Tensions Over Taiwan
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Antony Blinken will meet with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Sunday on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome amid tensions between the two countries.
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It will be the first between Blinken and Wang since a tense session in Alaska back in March.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet Sunday in Rome with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the State Department said, in only their second face-to-face session amid tensions between the two powers.
The meeting in Rome, where both diplomats were attending the G20 summit, is listed on Blinken's public schedule for Sunday.
It will be the first between Blinken and Wang since a tense session in Alaska back in March, during which the Chinese delegation criticized the US as TV cameras rolled.
Tensions are high between the world's two biggest economies on several fronts, including trade, human rights, Taiwan, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier this week, Washington ordered China Telecom Americas to discontinue its services within 60 days, ending nearly two decades of operations in the country and piling further strain on relations between the two countries.
Tensions have also soared between the two sides over Taiwan in recent months.
China claims the self-governing, US-allied island as its own, and vows it will retake it one day.
Earlier this month Washington confirmed that a small number of US troops are on the island to help with military training, while Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said she had "faith" that the US military would defend the island in the event of a Chinese attack.
The statements angered Beijing, which confirmed last Thursday its opposition to military contacts between Washington and Taipei.
Blinken, the US Secretary of State called for Taiwan to be allowed greater involvement in UN agencies, though Beijing insisted that the island has no right to join.
