Foreign Secretary Anthony Blinken, right, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a summit of East Asian foreign ministers in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Friday. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Friday that China’s military exercises targeting Taiwan including missiles fired into Japan’s exclusive economic zone represented a “significant escalation” and that he called on Beijing to back down. China launched the drills after a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan that angered Beijing, which claims the self-ruled island as its own territory. Blinken told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cambodia, however, that Pelosi’s visit was peaceful and did not represent a change in US policy toward Taiwan, accusing China of using it as “a pretext to increase provocative actions. military activity in and around the Taiwan Straits. He said the situation led to a “robust communication” during East Asia summits in Phnom Penh, attended by both himself and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi along with ASEAN nations, Russia and others. “I reiterated the points we made publicly and directly to the Chinese counterparts in recent days, that they should not use the visit as a pretext for war, for escalation, for provocative actions, that there is no possible justification. for what they have done and we urge them to stop these actions,” he said. Blinken did not sit down one-on-one with Wang, but said he had already spoken with the Chinese foreign minister about the possibility of Pelosi visiting Taiwan before it took place during meetings in Bali, and had made the US position clear. As the East Asia Summit opened, Wang patted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the shoulder as he entered the room and gave the already seated Lavrov a quick wave before taking his seat. Lavrov waved back in response. Blinken, who entered the room last, didn’t even glance at Lavrov as he sat alone half a dozen chairs away, or at Wang who sat further down at the same table as Lavrov. Before the Phnom Penh talks, the US State Department said Blinken had no plans to meet in person with either man during the meetings. The talks came a day after WNBA star Brittney Griner was convicted of drug possession and sentenced to nine years in prison by Russia in a politically charged case amid contestations over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Blinken said the conviction and sentence “compounds the injustice done to her.” “It shines a light on our very important turn with Russia’s legal system and the Russian government’s use of illegal detention to advance its own agenda by using individuals as political pawns,” he said. On Thursday, China canceled a meeting of foreign ministers with Japan to protest a statement by the Group of 7 nations that said there was no justification for Beijing’s military exercises, which are effectively encircling Taiwan. “Japan, along with other members of the G-7 and the EU, made an irresponsible statement blaming China and confusing right and wrong,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in Beijing. When Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa began speaking Friday at the East Asia Summit, both Lavrov and Wang left the room, according to a diplomat in the room who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ‘ private meeting. After Chinese missile launches into Japan’s economic zone, Blinken said the US stands in “strong solidarity” with Japan following the “dangerous actions China has taken”.
