US-China relationship is ‘arguably’ the most important one in the world for Washington, says new Secretary of State Antony Blinken
- Blinken emphasises areas in which ‘it’s in our mutual interest to try to work together’, particularly with respect to climate change
- But he says the relationship between the two countries ‘has some adversarial aspects to it’
China looks set to remain a central feature of the United States’ foreign policy under Joe Biden, with newly appointed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying on Wednesday that Washington’s relationship with Beijing is “arguably the most important … that we have in the world”.
Speaking at his first press conference since being confirmed in his new position by the Senate on Tuesday, Blinken highlighted areas, like climate change, in which it was important for the two nations to “try to work together” but did not gloss over the conflict that existed between them.
“Increasingly, [the US-China] relationship has some adversarial aspects to it,” he said. “It also still has cooperative ones, and the cooperative ones are in areas where it’s in our mutual interest to try to work together, including manifestly on climate, where it’s in the interest of China and the interest of the United States and countries around the world to make concrete progress in combating global warming.”
00:49
President Biden signs first-day executive orders for US return to Paris climate accord, WHO and more
Despite Blinken putting China at the top of his list of key relationships, he has yet to speak to his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.
Blinken’s two other calls immediately after his confirmation were to Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard and Canadian Foreign Minister Marc Garneau. He called his counterparts in Britain, France and Germany on Wednesday.
