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QUESTION: Could you talk a little bit about how China’s support for Russia’s war effort in Ukraine has evolved, and also the Secretary’s efforts to communicate that and talk about that with allies?
MR MILLER: So we have been concerned really since the outset of that conflict about the PRC’s support for Russia’s war against Ukraine and have been especially concerned over recent months about its efforts to help Russia reconstitute its defense industrial base. We have raised that with a number of our allies and partners across the world. We have seen in recent months that the PRC has started to rebuild that industrial base. Essentially, they’ve been backfilling the trade from European partners that was suspended after the invasion and sanctioned, and that they have been helping provide the components that increase Russia’s capabilities to attack Ukraine. That of course has long-term security impacts on Europe as well as the entire world, and so the Secretary has raised in a number of his meetings with allies and partners around the world the need to monitor those results and ultimately take actions to prevent them.
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QUESTION: Thank you, Matt. I’m wondering if there is a new dimension emerging in the Indo-Pacific strategy, given United States constructive engagement with Chinese authority and including President Biden’s 105-minutes phone call with the Chinese President Xi in recent days.
MR MILLER: So our policy with respect to engagement in the Indo-Pacific has been consistent since the outset of this administration. And that is we make clear when it comes to China specifically, which you raised in that call, that there are areas where we have concern with actions that China has taken, there are areas where we want to work together with China to address mutual concerns – for example, with the traffic of – trafficking of fentanyl, which has impacted millions and millions of Americans. And ultimately, it is our job to manage the relationship responsibly to prevent any unintended escalation.
At the same time, we are going to work with our allies and partners throughout the Indo-Pacific region on our broad vision of a region that is safe and secure and democratic.
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QUESTION: Can you take one more on China?
MR MILLER: I’ll take one more, and then we’ll wrap.
QUESTION: Thank you. I just wonder if you could shed some lights on Secretary Blinken’s trip to China. What’s the difference between this trip and the one he had last year? Does he have different message and different mission this time?
MR MILLER: So we have said that the Secretary will be traveling in the coming weeks. We have not announced an exact date for that trip, let alone who the Secretary will be meeting with. So I think I’ll refrain from comment until we’ve moved a little closer to that trip.
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Source: U.S. Department of State
Speaker: Matthew Miller, Department Spokesperson
Format: Press Briefing
China Policy Research 