Blinken Meets China’s Wang after Chiding Beijing’s ‘Escalating Actions’ at Sea

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the 57th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting at the National Convention Center, in Vientiane, Laos, July 27, 2024. (Reuters)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the 57th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting at the National Convention Center, in Vientiane, Laos, July 27, 2024. (Reuters)
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Blinken Meets China’s Wang after Chiding Beijing’s ‘Escalating Actions’ at Sea

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the 57th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting at the National Convention Center, in Vientiane, Laos, July 27, 2024. (Reuters)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the 57th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting at the National Convention Center, in Vientiane, Laos, July 27, 2024. (Reuters)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Saturday during a regional summit in Laos, hours after criticizing Beijing's "escalating and unlawful actions" in the South China Sea.

Blinken and Wang shook hands and exchanged greetings in front of cameras but made no comments before moving to closed-door talks in what will be their sixth meeting since June 23, when Blinken visited Beijing in a significant sign of improvement for strained relations between the world's two biggest economies.

Though Blinken had singled out China over its actions against US defense ally the Philippines in the South China Sea during a meeting with Southeast Asian counterparts earlier on Saturday, he also lauded the two countries for their diplomacy after Manila completed a resupply mission to troops in an area also claimed by Beijing.

The troop presence has for years angered China, which has clashed repeatedly with the Philippines over Manila's missions to a grounded navy ship at the Second Thomas Shoal, causing regional concern about an escalation.

The two sides this week reached an arrangement over how to conduct those missions.

"We are pleased to take note of the successful resupply today of the Second Thomas shoal, which is the product of an agreement reached between the Philippines and China," Blinken told ASEAN foreign ministers.

"We applaud that and hope and expect to see that it continues going forward."

GAZA SITUATION 'DIRE'

Blinken and Wang attended Saturday's security-focused ASEAN Regional Forum in Laos alongside top diplomats of major powers including Russia, India, Australia, Japan, the European, Britain and others, before heading to their meeting.

Blinken said earlier the United States was "working intensely every single day" to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and find a path to more enduring peace and security.

His remarks follow those of Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, who said the need for sustainable peace was urgent and international law should be applied to all. The comment from the world's largest Muslim-majority nation, was a veiled reference to recent decisions by two international courts over Israeli's Gaza offensives.

"We cannot continue closing our eyes to see the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza," she said.

More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting in Gaza since Israel launched its incursion, according to Palestinian health authorities, who do not distinguish between fighters and non-combatants.

Israeli officials estimate that some 14,000 fighters from armed groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have been killed or taken prisoner, out of a force they estimated to number more than 25,000 at the start of the war.

The war began when Hamas fighters attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting some 250 others, according to Israeli tallies.

Also in Laos, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said guidelines on the operation of US nuclear assets on the Korean peninsula were certain to add to regional security concerns.

Lavrov, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap, said he had not been briefed on the details of the plan, which was of concern to Russia.

"So far we can't even get an explanation of what this means, but there is no doubt that it causes additional anxiety," Russia's state-run RIA new agency quoted him as saying.

'THIS IS NOT SUSTAINABLE'

Ahead of Saturday's two summits, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong urged Myanmar's military rulers to take a different path and end an intensifying civil war, pressing the generals to abide by their commitment to follow ASEAN's five-point consensus peace plan.

The conflict pits Myanmar's well-equipped military against a loose alliance of ethnic minority rebel groups and an armed resistance movement that has been gaining ground and testing the generals' ability to govern.

The junta has largely ignored the ASEAN-promoted peace effort, and the 10-member bloc has hit a wall as all sides refuse to enter into dialogue.

"We see the instability, the insecurity, the deaths, the pain that is being caused by the conflict," Wong told reporters.

"My message from Australia to the regime is, this is not sustainable for you or for your people."

An estimated 2.6 million people have been displaced by fighting. The junta has been condemned for excessive force in its air strikes on civilian areas and accused of atrocities, which it has dismissed as Western disinformation.

ASEAN issued a communique on Saturday, two days after its top diplomats met, stressing it was united behind its peace plan for Myanmar, saying it was confident in its special envoy's resolve to achieve "an inclusive and durable peaceful resolution" to the conflict.

It condemned violence against civilians and urged all sides in Myanmar to cease hostilities.

ASEAN welcomed unspecified practical measures to reduce tension in the South China Sea and prevent accidents and miscalculations, while urging all stakeholders to halt actions that could complicate and escalate disputes.

The ministers described North Korea's missile tests as worrisome developments and urged peaceful resolutions to the conflicts in Ukraine, as well as Gaza, expressing concern over the dire humanitarian situation and "alarming casualties" there. 



Strong Earthquake Kills at Least 126 People in Tibet

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescue workers search for survivors in the aftermath of an earthquake in Changsuo Township of Dingri in Xigaze, southwestern China's Tibet Autonomous Region on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescue workers search for survivors in the aftermath of an earthquake in Changsuo Township of Dingri in Xigaze, southwestern China's Tibet Autonomous Region on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (Xinhua via AP)
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Strong Earthquake Kills at Least 126 People in Tibet

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescue workers search for survivors in the aftermath of an earthquake in Changsuo Township of Dingri in Xigaze, southwestern China's Tibet Autonomous Region on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescue workers search for survivors in the aftermath of an earthquake in Changsuo Township of Dingri in Xigaze, southwestern China's Tibet Autonomous Region on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (Xinhua via AP)

 A strong earthquake shook a high-altitude region of western China and areas of Nepal on Tuesday, damaging hundreds of houses, littering streets with rubble and killing at least 126 people in Tibet. Many others were trapped as dozens of aftershocks shook the remote region.
Rescue workers climbed mounds of broken bricks, some using ladders in heavily damaged villages, as they searched for survivors. Videos posted by China's Ministry of Emergency Management showed two people being carried on stretchers by workers treading over the debris from collapsed homes.
At least 188 people were injured in Tibet on the Chinese side of the border, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
More than 1,000 homes were damaged in the barren and sparsely populated region, state broadcaster CCTV reported. In video posted by the broadcaster, building debris littered streets and crushed cars.
According to The AP, people in northeastern Nepal strongly felt the earthquake, but there were no initial reports of injuries or damage, according to the country's National Emergency Operation Center. The area around Mount Everest, about 75 kilometers (50 miles) southwest of the epicenter, was empty in the depth of winter when even some residents move away to escape the cold.
The quake woke up residents in Nepal’s capital of Kathmandu — about 230 kilometers (140 miles) from the epicenter — and sent them running into the streets.
The US Geological Survey said the earthquake measured magnitude 7.1 and was relatively shallow at a depth of about 10 kilometers (6 miles). China's Earthquake Networks Center recorded the magnitude as 6.8. Shallow earthquakes often cause more damage.
The epicenter was in Tibet's Tingri county, where the India and Eurasia plates grind against each other and can cause earthquakes strong enough to change the heights of some of the world’s tallest peaks in the Himalayan mountains.
There have been 10 earthquakes of at least magnitude 6 in the area where Tuesday’s quake hit over the past century, the USGS said.
About 150 aftershocks were recorded in the nine hours after the earthquake, and the Mount Everest scenic area on the Chinese side was closed.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for all-out efforts to rescue people, minimize casualties and resettle those whose homes were damaged. More than 3,000 rescuers were deployed, CCTV said.
Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing was dispatched to the area to guide the work, and the government announced the allocation of 100 million yuan ($13.6 million) for disaster relief.
About 6,900 people live in three townships and 27 villages within 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) of the epicenter on the Chinese side, state media said. The average altitude in the area is about 4,200 meters (13,800 feet), the Chinese earthquake center said in a social media post.
On the southwest edge of Kathmandu, a video showed water spilling out into the street from a pond in a courtyard with a small temple.
“It is a big earthquake," a woman can be heard saying. "People are all shaking.”