Antony Blinken meets China's President Xi as US and China spar over issues

The United States and China butted heads over several contentious issues when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other senior Chinese officials on Friday.

Talks between the two sides have increased in recent months, despite a widening gap in politics.

Both nations have underscored the importance of keeping lines of communication open, while lamenting that divisions were becoming more serious.

These divisions were highlighted last week after US President Joe Biden signed a €89 billion foreign aid bill for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

This bill included nearly €8 billion to counter China’s growing aggressiveness towards Taiwan as well as forced TikTok’s China-based parent company to sell the social media platform.

• US president signs law to force sale of TikTok under threat of ban

‘The negative factors in the relationship are still increasing and building and the relationship is facing all kinds of disruptions,’ said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Following their meeting, Blinken appeared in a press conference without his counterpart Yi.

He said Russia would struggle to sustain its assault on Ukraine without China’s support.

"Ensuring transatlantic security is a core US interest," he said. "If China does not address this problem – we will."

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