New Delhi: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday said Russia and China were the two countries that did not support the issue of a joint statement at the G-20 foreign ministers’ meeting hosted by India. The two countries protested the mention of the Russian attack, resulting in the meeting ending without a joint statement being issued, despite India’s efforts to resolve the differences.
Blinken said at the press conference, “Russia and China are the only countries that have made it clear they will not sign.” He also said that the US strongly supports India’s agenda for the G-20. Blinken said the meeting adopted an outcome document that reflected the consensus of all foreign ministers on a wide range of subjects. He said that the US would continue to support Ukraine.
Blinken said, “Every country is bearing the cost of Russia’s aggression. A war that President Putin could end tomorrow if he chose to do so. We worked hard to stop it.” He said, “I had a brief conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov today. I have asked Russia to withdraw its irresponsible decision and make a ‘NEW START’ and Urged it to return to implement the treaty.
He said, “I told the Russian foreign minister that no matter what happens in the world and in our relationship, the United States will always be ready to engage and take action on strategic arms control, as The US and the Soviet Union did at the height of the Cold War.
The US Secretary of State said, “What we saw is the outcome document that reflects the shared understandings on a number of issues by all the foreign ministers here today. In the matter of Russia’s war against Ukraine, all of you in the G20 have signed on to what was said in Bali. There was broad agreement in the G20 to work together.
Blinken’s statement today by the G20 Chair – India reaffirmed the declaration issued by the G20 leaders in Bali last year, which “strongly condemned” the war in Ukraine. was done. Russia and China were the only two countries that made it clear they would not sign that text.
Blinken said, “End this war of aggression, engage in malicious diplomacy that can only produce tolerable peace. The United States is ready to support Ukraine through diplomacy. However, President Putin has shown no interest in engaging in a double whammy on Ukraine’s brutality. We show here in Delhi what we will do, regardless of what Russia does.
Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement, the US Secretary of State said, “PM Modi is right that there are challenges to the multilateral system. And those challenges are in many ways coming directly from Russia in violation of the principles that are at the heart of that system.
He said, “Whether China engaged in material lethal support for Russia’s aggression or engaged in systematic evasion of sanctions to help Russia that would be a serious problem for our countries.” He said, “When I saw Wang Yi (China) senior foreign policy official, I expressed my concern about the information that the Chinese are considering supplying arms to Russia, I said that this is with China. There will be serious trouble in our relationship and there will be consequences.
“We came together to focus on solving some of the most consequential problems affecting our countries and the world,” Blinken said. I thank my host India for the presidency of the G20.
On concerns about democratic backwardness and human rights issues in India, Blinken said, “We are the two largest democracies in the world, it is part of our national ethos. We must work together to ensure that our democracy serves the needs of the people.
“We must hold ourselves to core values, including respect for human rights such as freedom of expression, freedom of religion, and freedom of assembly,” he said. That’s why we regularly engage with Indian counterparts to encourage the Indian government to uphold human rights and justice, and we look to ourselves to do the same. This is an issue we discuss with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
