Blinken Offers Veiled Jabs as Top China Diplomat Hosts UN Event
- U.S. envoy criticizes countries seeking ‘spheres of influence’
- Russia’s Lavrov accuses West of imposing its values on world
Antony Blinken on day two of the G-7 foreign and development ministers meeting.
Photographer: Hollie Adams/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken used a speech to the United Nations on multilateralism to issue a not-so-subtle rebuke of China’s behavior on everything from human rights to territorial disputes. He also acknowledged what he called American missteps during the Trump administration.
Speaking minutes after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi -- who was hosting the virtual UN Security Council event on Friday -- Blinken appeared to take aim at Beijing’s expansive but disputed claims in the South China Sea and its treatment of Uyghur minorities in the western region of Xinjiang, as well as Russian actions toward Ukraine.