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)
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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.



Biden Casts Early Ballot for Harris as Election Day Nears

 President Joe Biden, center, holds an "I Voted Early" sticker upon exiting the voting booth after casting his early-voting ballot for the 2024 general elections, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in New Castle, Del. (AP)
President Joe Biden, center, holds an "I Voted Early" sticker upon exiting the voting booth after casting his early-voting ballot for the 2024 general elections, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in New Castle, Del. (AP)
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Biden Casts Early Ballot for Harris as Election Day Nears

 President Joe Biden, center, holds an "I Voted Early" sticker upon exiting the voting booth after casting his early-voting ballot for the 2024 general elections, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in New Castle, Del. (AP)
President Joe Biden, center, holds an "I Voted Early" sticker upon exiting the voting booth after casting his early-voting ballot for the 2024 general elections, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in New Castle, Del. (AP)

President Joe Biden has cast an early ballot in the 2024 general election.

It's a bittersweet moment for Biden, who decided to end his reelection campaign in July because of growing concerns about his health and Democrats' worries about his chances of defeating former President Donald Trump.  

Biden voted on Monday at the state of Delaware Department of Elections, not far from his home outside Wilmington, Delaware at an early voting site, where voters were lined up down the street to cast ballots.

Biden chatted with voters as he waited in line to cast his ballot, and helped push an older woman in a wheelchair who ahead of him. The president waited in line for about 40 minutes before he cast his ballot.

He handed his identification to the election worker, who had him sign a form and announced: “Joseph Biden now voting.”

As the president cast his ballot behind a black drape, some first-time voters were announced and the room erupted in cheers for them.

For all but a few years since 1970, Biden has either held office or been running for one during election season.

But this year, his hopes lie with a newer generation of Democrats, including three on the Delaware ballot looking to make history.

Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Biden endorsed after dropping out, is vying to become the first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to serve as president.