US Secretary of State Blinken plans to meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at the G20 meeting this week. The summit meeting is also about important signals of cooperation.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken meets his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at the G20 foreign ministers meeting in Bali this week.
The State Department in Washington announced on Tuesday that Blinken will reaffirm the US commitment to “working with international partners to tackle global challenges” at the summit meeting on Thursday and Friday on the Indonesian island. The ministry cited the food and energy crisis “and the threat to the international order posed by Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine” as examples. The meeting with Wang Yi is one of Blinken’s bilateral appointments in Bali.
After the start of the war in Ukraine, the US government had unsuccessfully pressured China to position itself against Russia. According to the Russian embassy in Jakarta, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will also travel to the G20 meeting. The US State Department said Blinken was not planning a bilateral meeting with Lavrov. It’s not the right time for that. Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is also taking part in the meeting in Bali. Blinken plans to travel to Thailand after the meeting, according to his ministry.
The G20 is a group of leading and emerging economic powers. In addition to the G7 countries, its members include authoritarian countries such as Russia, China and Saudi Arabia. Indonesia currently holds the presidency. In November, the heads of state and government of the G20 meet in Bali for their summit.
