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Wang meets Blinken, Lavrov on sidelines of ASEAN in Jakarta

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
13 Jul 2023 17:22

Chinese representative at the ASEAN summit and senior diplomat Wang Yi met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov without achieving any breakthroughs till now.

In this photo released by Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, left, and Chinese Communist Party's foreign policy chief Wang Yi pose for a photo prior to their talks on the sideline of the ASEAN Post Ministerial Conference with Russia at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Minister's Meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, July 13, 2023. (AP)

On the sidelines of the 42nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers' meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, the Chinese representative at the ASEAN summit and senior diplomat Wang Yi met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Wang, director of the Foreign Affairs Commission Office of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, represented China at the summit after Beijing announced that Foreign Minister Qin Gang was ill and would not be able to attend the Jakarta meetings.

Wang and Blinken were sighted seated together in a hotel in central Jakarta. However, the two did not speak to the press.

Earlier in the month, Blinken had visited China and met with Qin and Wang in an attempt to stabilize the relationship between the two global powers. As of yet, however, the meeting has failed to achieve any major breakthrough in the relationship, according to Reuters. Despite that, these meetings have been perceived to pave the way for a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden.

In turn, Wang also met with Lavrov in Jakarta. According to the Chinese foreign ministry, Wang said "The two sides should follow the important consensus reached by the heads of state, maintain high-level exchanges, and strengthen strategic communication and coordination."

Wang also stressed that "China and Russia are ASEAN partners. Strengthening our cooperation in ASEAN helps to bring our positions into closer alignment, and to advance multifaceted forms of cooperation that can defend the ASEAN-centric system as well as the structure of cooperation with this association."

TASS also reported that Wang made mention of President Xi's visit to Moscow and underscored that "Against the background of tectonic changes occurring around the world, we consistently adhere to the critical consensus between our respective heads of state, firmly supporting each other in protecting [our countries’] vital interests and following the path of peaceful development, good-neighborliness, and mutual benefit, as well as promoting a multipolar world order and the democratization of relations," adding that "We are satisfied with the trend in the development of our relations and strongly believe in the bright prospects" in terms of future development between Moscow and Beijing.