BEIJING – MUNICH – MOSCOW

In Munich, on the sidelines of the International Security Conference, a meeting was held between US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and the head of the Chinese delegation, Wang Yi.

This top-ranking Chinese diplomat is the Head of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, a member of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee, and a strong adviser to Chinese leader Xi Jingping.

The meeting in Munich was requested by the American side, apparently to partially compensate for Blinken’s failed visit to China (due to the incident with a Chinese balloon shot down over the United States).

The meeting went cool. Blinken repeated accusations of “an unacceptable violation of U.S. sovereignty” in connection with the “spy balloon” invasion.

Wang Yi, in response, called “absurd and hysterical” the actions of the United States against the “peaceful weather balloon.” There was no apology for the incident. On the contrary, there was a demand to return the remains of the ball.

After such a warm-up, the parties moved on to the main topic. Blinken sternly warned China against helping Russia with lethal weapons. This, according to the Secretary of State, is a “red line” for the United States, after which some kind of sharp reaction may begin.

Apparently, it was decided in Washington to simply scold “non-lethal assistance” from China to the Russian Federation in the form of economic cooperation and even the supply of helmets and bulletproof vests.

The most interesting news from the meeting was Wang Yi’s statement about Ukraine. He said that China’s position “is to support peace talks”, and to this end, he said, Beijing will soon put forward specific proposals for a “political settlement” of the military conflict.

Wang Yi is expected to travel to Moscow after Munich. It is there, perhaps, that the Chinese peace plan for Ukraine will be discussed.

The consultations that Wang Yi will hold in Moscow will make it possible to clarify the program of China’s leader Xi Jinping’s big visit to Russia scheduled for March.