Kremlin Says After Xi-Blinken Talks It’s Confident in China-Russia Ties 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, June 19, 2023. (Reuters)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, June 19, 2023. (Reuters)
TT

Kremlin Says After Xi-Blinken Talks It’s Confident in China-Russia Ties 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, June 19, 2023. (Reuters)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, June 19, 2023. (Reuters)

Russia is not worried about potential US attempts to influence China's policy towards Moscow, the Kremlin said on Tuesday, commenting on US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken's visit to Beijing where he held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

During a rare visit to Beijing by Blinken, China and the United States agreed on Monday to stabilize their intense rivalry so it did not veer into conflict, but failed to produce any major breakthrough.

Blinken said however that he had asked the Chinese government to be very vigilant about the possibility that Chinese firms may be providing Russia with technology that it could use in its war in Ukraine, something Moscow calls a "special military operation."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Beijing had the sovereign right to forge ties with other countries and that the process of trying to build predictable relations between China and the United States was an important one.

Russia did not think there was a risk of US-China talks causing problems for Moscow, he said.

"Our strategic partnership relationship with China make us confident that (Beijing's) development of relations with other countries will never be aimed against our country," Peskov said.

Hit with sanctions by the United States and the European Union over Ukraine, Russia has sought in Beijing a market for its energy exports and a partnership in a global anti-Western axis that would challenge the existing world order.

Xi visited Russia in March, pledging friendship, but maintaining an "impartial position" on the Ukraine conflict. A peace plan proposed by Beijing has so far produced no breakthrough.



Lawsuit Alleges US Failed to Evacuate Palestinian Americans Trapped in Gaza

FILE PHOTO: Palestinian houses stand badly damaged during the ongoing Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, December 18, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Palestinian houses stand badly damaged during the ongoing Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, December 18, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
TT

Lawsuit Alleges US Failed to Evacuate Palestinian Americans Trapped in Gaza

FILE PHOTO: Palestinian houses stand badly damaged during the ongoing Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, December 18, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Palestinian houses stand badly damaged during the ongoing Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, December 18, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

Nine Palestinian Americans sued the US government on Thursday, alleging that it had failed to rescue them or members of their families who were trapped in Gaza where Israel's war has killed tens of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis.
The lawsuit accuses the State Department of discriminating against Americans of Palestinian origin by abandoning them in a war zone and not making the same effort that it would to promptly evacuate and protect Americans of different origins in similar situations, Reuters reported.
It was the second case against the US government this week after Palestinian families sued the US State Department on Tuesday over Washington's support for Israel's military.
A US State Department spokesperson said the department does not comment on pending litigation, while adding the safety and security of American citizens around the world is a "top priority."
Thursday's lawsuit was announced by advocacy group Council on American Islamic Relations and attorney Maria Kari, and filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
The suit alleges the plaintiffs' right to equal protection under the US Constitution has been violated by depriving them "of the normal and typical evacuation efforts the federal government extends to Americans who are not Palestinians."
It mentions comparable instances of the US government evacuating its citizens from conflict zones such as in Afghanistan, Lebanon and Sudan and names President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin as defendants.
The State Department spokesperson said the US has evacuated Americans from unsafe areas around the world, including Gaza.
Israel's war has killed over 45,000 people, according to the Gaza health ministry while also sparking accusations of genocide and war crimes that Israel denies. The military assault has displaced nearly Gaza's entire 2.3 million population and caused a hunger crisis.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct. 7, 2023, when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.