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Blinken begins Jakarta meeting with Wang Yi
"Director, good to see you," Blinken told Wang as they shook hands in front of their respective flags. They did not address reporters.
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (right) shows the way to Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China's Central Committee Wang Yi during their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Jakarta on July 13, 2023.
(AFP/Dita Alangkara)
U
S Secretary of State Antony Blinken and China's top diplomat Wang Yi began talks in Jakarta on Thursday, their second meeting in as many months.
"Director, good to see you," Blinken told Wang as they shook hands in front of their respective flags. They did not address reporters.
The pair met on the sidelines of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) talks despite Microsoft saying two days ago that Chinese hackers had breached US government email accounts, including those of the State Department.
The Jakarta talks come nearly a month after Blinken travelled to Beijing, the first visit by a US secretary of state in nearly five years, and met President Xi Jinping as well as Wang and Foreign Minister Qin Gang.
Wang was representing Beijing in Jakarta instead of Qin, who was absent for health reasons, the foreign ministry in Beijing said.
Tensions between the world's two largest economies have soared in recent years over a host of issues, including China's growing assertiveness in the region and sweeping restrictions imposed by the United States on exports of advanced semiconductors.
But Blinken's Beijing trip opened a flurry of diplomacy, with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visiting Beijing last week and a trip by climate envoy John Kerry set for the coming days.
