Speaking to a roundtable of Japanese journalists in Tokyo on Wednesday, Blinken also claimed China was “raising tensions, not diminishing them,” in the region with its maritime actions and posturing toward Taiwan, Reuters reported.
He said Beijing was “acting both more repressively at home and more aggressively abroad.”
Blinken’s comments come ahead of meetings in Alaska on Thursday that will bring together for the first time senior Biden administration officials and their Chinese counterparts to discuss frayed ties between the world’s top two economies.
“We look forward to the opportunity to lay out in very clear terms to our Chinese counterparts some of the concerns that we have about the actions they’re taking,” Blinken said.
Ties between Washington and Beijing particularly soured under former US president Donald Trump, who clashed with China on trade, technology, and regional security, among other things.
Biden has described China as Washington’s “most serious competitor,” saying the US would continue to confront what he has called China’s “attack on human rights, intellectual property and global governance.”
Beijing has rejected those charges and repeatedly said that the US must stop interfering in its internal affairs.
MNA/PR