US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says that in recent years China has been behaving more and more repressively at home and more aggressively abroad. “That’s a fact,” he said in an interview with CBS News.
As an example of aggressive action abroad, he cited the theft of trade secrets and intellectual property by China in the US. This involves hundreds of billions of euros. Blinken hopes that a joint position with other countries dealing with this problem will put an end to this.
China and the US signed last year a trade deal to end their trade war. It was agreed that China would protect US intellectual property such as patents. The US said last week that China is not living up to this promise.
G7 in London
Blinken is in London for the G7, the consultations between the largest western industrial countries. China is one of the topics of discussion.
Blinken said the US is not out to contain China, but to preserve the rule of law that is being tested by China. “We resist and will defend that order.”
President Biden sees the competition with China as the most important theme for foreign policy. In his first speech to Congress last week, he promised that the US military will maintain a strong presence in the Western Pacific.
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