Washington

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held candid and constructive discussion during their meeting at the Munich Security Conference on Friday.

According to US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller, the discussion on the sidelines of the summit touched on a range of bilateral, regional, and global issues as part of ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication and responsibly manage competition in the relationship.

While having a candid and constructive discussion with Wang in Munich, Blinken raised concern over China supporting Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the State Department’s top spokesman said.

The two sides also exchanged views on the situation in West Asia and on the Korean Peninsula and affirmed that their respective senior officials should meet to follow up on these discussions. Blinken emphasized the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the South China Sea, Miller said.

Friday’s meeting between Blinken and Wang was the first in-person meeting of senior officials of the two countries since Taiwan’s presidential election in mid-January, which was won by Lai Ching-te of the ruling, independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, source reported. Meanwhile, according to source, the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called for a sound, steady and sustainable development of China-US ties.

During the meeting, the two sides had candid, substantive, and constructive discussions, it said. The two sides should adhere to the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation and actively explore the right way for the two major countries to get along with each other, Wang said according to source.