The US has expressed concern that China may supply lethal arms to Russia in its war against Ukraine after the two countries’ top diplomats held their first face-to-face meeting since the US shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon.
During the meeting, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken demanded that China cease the use of spy balloons over the US and warned that material support for Russia’s military would have serious consequences for US-China relations.
China issued a firm statement after the meeting, saying it would never accept US attempts to dictate the terms of its relations with Moscow and calling on the US to change course and fix the damage done to the bilateral relationship by its abuse of force.
There was little sign of tensions easing between the two countries two weeks after the incident with the spy balloon prompted Blinken to cancel a planned trip to China.
