After China meeting, Blinken says Beijing's talk of Ukraine peace 'doesn't add up

NEW YORK, Sept 27 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken underscored strong U.S. concerns about China's support for Russia's defense industrial base in talks on Friday with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, saying Beijing's talk of peace in Ukraine "doesn't add up."

In a meeting with Wang on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Blinken said he also raised China's "dangerous and destabilizing actions" in the South China Sea and discussed improving communication between their militaries.

Blinken told a press conference he and Wang also discussed ways to disrupt the flow of drugs into the United States, and the risks posed by artificial intelligence.

About 70 percent of the machine tools Russia is importing and 90 percent of the microelectronics come from China and Hong Kong, Blinken added.

That was materially helping Moscow to produce the missiles, rockets, armored vehicles and munitions needed to perpetuate its war, he said.

"So when Beijing says that, on the one hand, it wants peace, it wants to see an end to the conflict, but on the other hand, is allowing its companies to take actions that are actually helping Putin continue the aggression, that doesn't add up."

Wang said his country's position on the war in Ukraine had always emphasized the need for peace 

through talks, China's foreign ministry said in a statement.

"The United States should stop smearing and planting evidence against China, imposing sanctions indiscriminately, and using this (conflict) ... to create and encourage confrontations between different camps," it cited Wang as saying.

On Friday, China and Brazil pressed ahead with an effort to gather developing countries behind a Ukraine peace plan, despite President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's dismissal of the initiative as serving Moscow's interests.

The meeting of 17 nations was chaired by Wang and Brazilian foreign policy adviser Celso Amorim. Wang told reporters they discussed the need to prevent escalation, avoid use of weapons of mass destruction and prevent attacks on nuclear power plants.

The White House and the European Union said this week they were deeply concerned by a Reuters report that Russia has set up a weapons program in China to develop and produce long-range attack drones for use in the war.

Earlier on Friday, Wang declined to comment on the report, when queried by a reporter at the U.N. headquarters.

Blinken said "pressing Iran, North Korea and China ... to stop providing weapons, artillery, machinery and other support" to Russia was crucial to achieving a lasting peace in Ukraine...Read More