'No plans to meet Chinese and Russian ministers': Blinken ahead of G20 FMs meeting

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a press availability in Uzbekistan on Wednesday said that he would not meet his Russian and Chinese counterparts at the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting in India to be held on Thursday. "I have no plans to see either at the G20," Blinken told reporters in Tashkent before flying out to New Delhi, while adding that he expected to participate in group sessions with them.

Since the Ukraine invasion, Blinken has declined to have an in-person meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, disregarding Moscow's claims that they were prepared to negotiate about the war instigated by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"If Russia - President Putin - were genuinely prepared to engage in meaningful diplomacy necessary to end the aggression, of course we'd be the first to work to engage, but there's zero evidence of that," Blinken said. "The real question is whether Russia will get to a point where it is genuinely prepared to end its aggression, and to do so in a way that is consistent with the United Nations Charter," he added.

In January 2022, Lavrov and Blinken had their most recent one-on-one meeting in Geneva, during which the US official cautioned against an invasion. Subsequently, Blinken called off a scheduled follow-up meeting upon realising that Russia was intent on launching an attack on Ukraine, which eventually occurred on February 24. Although Blinken has conversed with Lavrov over the phone to facilitate the exchange of American and Russian prisoners, the discussions did not involve Ukraine as a topic.

Worsening Sino-US ties

During the Munich Security Conference, Blinken had a strained meeting with Wang Yi, China's top foreign policy official, on February 18. This encounter occurred shortly after Blinken had cancelled his highly anticipated trip to Beijing, which was prompted by the discovery of an alleged Chinese spy balloon over US territory.

Recent issues include a dispute over the origins of COVID-19 apart from the spy balloon controversy. On Monday, the White House directed federal agencies to remove TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, from federal devices within 30 days. Additionally, a new House select committee was set to hold its first hearing on the rapidly expanding rivalry between the US and China on Tuesday.

Speaking on China's proposed peace proposal on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Blinken said: "In terms of the proposal that China put forth, as I’ve said and as others in the government have said, look, there are some positive elements there, including things that China itself has said several times in the past – very similar to elements that are in Ukraine’s own proposal that President Zelenskyy put out some time ago." 

Blinken lambasted China saying that if it truly had a genuine interest in the matter, it would have prioritised the principle of sovereignty and dedicated the past year towards assisting Ukraine in fully restoring its sovereignty. However, "China has been doing the opposite by promoting Russian propaganda and disinformation about the conflict, obstructing efforts in international organisations, and considering the possibility of providing Russia with deadly military aid for its offensive against Ukraine, as we have recently pointed out".

"So China can’t have it both ways.  It can’t be putting itself out as a force for peace in public while it, one way or another, continues to fuel the flames of this fire that Vladimir Putin started," Blinken added.