Xi says US, China ‘made progress’ in Blinken visit

BEIJING—President Xi Jinping said the United States and China had “made progress” on a number of issues Monday, during talks with top US diplomat Antony Blinken.

“The Chinese side has made our position clear, and the two sides have agreed to follow through the common understandings President (Joe) Biden and I had reached in Bali,” Xi told the US secretary of state, adding the “two sides have also made progress and reached agreement on some specific issues”.

The visit capped two days of highlevel talks by the US secretary of state with Chinese officials.

Blinken’s was the highest-level visit by a US official to China in nearly five years marked by severely strained ties between the world’s two largest economies. US officials have said they hope the visit will bring more stability, if not breakthroughs, between Washington and Beijing.

Xi, China’s most powerful leader in decades, met Blinken around 4:30 pm (0830 GMT) on Monday, Chinese state media said.

The meeting came after Blinken held more than 10 hours of talks over two days with other top officials.

At the ornate Diaoyutai State Guesthouse earlier Monday, Blinken and China’s foreign policy supremo Wang

Yi offered polite smiles before talks with their aides, who unlike their bosses wore masks in line with lingering Covid-19 protocols.

Away from the cameras, Wang told Blinken that his trip “comes at a critical juncture in China-US relations”, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

“It is necessary to make a choice between dialogue and confrontation, cooperation or conflict,” he said.

“We must reverse the downward spiral of China-US relations, push for a return to a healthy and stable track, and work together to find a correct way for China and the United States to get along,” Wang added.

He also issued a warning on Taiwan, the self-ruling democracy claimed by Beijing.

In the past year, China has launched live-fire military drills twice near the island in anger over meetings between top US lawmakers and Taiwanese leaders.

“On this issue, China has no room to compromise or concede,” Wang told Blinken, according to CCTV.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller called the discussion with Wang “candid and productive”.

Blinken “underscored the importance of responsibly managing the competition between the United States and the PRC through open channels of communication to ensure competition does not veer into conflict”, Miller said, referring to the People’s Republic of China. AFP

Chinese PM in Germany as West mistrust mounts

BERLIN—China’s Premier Li Qiang will meet German leaders during a trip to Berlin on Monday, at a time when Beijing’s policies on Russia, trade and human rights are receiving an increasingly hostile reception in the West.

Li—who is making his first trip abroad since being appointed premier in March—will begin his two-nation tour with so-called “government consultations” involving talks with Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his cabinet, before heading on to France for a financing summit hosted by President Emmanuel Macron.

China cited the “importance” placed on ties with Germany and outlined its “hopes to deepen and expand its relations” with the EU heavyweight.

But Germany’s first national security strategy, published days ago, could set the tone at the talks.

The blueprint stridently accused China of acting against German interests, putting international security “under increasing pressure” and disregarding human rights.

At the same time, it underlined the necessity of getting Beijing’s cooperation on global issues like fighting climate change.

Berlin is expecting “a good and productive exchange with a partner”, said government spokesman Wolfgang Buechner.

But “how the partner should be classified is something that you have heard during the presentation of the national security strategy”, he added.

Scholz himself had said the message sent by the document is that “China’s integration into world trade and world economic relations should not be impaired.

“But at the same time the security issues that arise for us must be taken into account.”

Beijing has bristled at being described as a “partner, competitor and systemic rival” in the text.

“Viewing others as competitors, rivals or even adversaries and turning normal cooperation into security or political issues will only push our world towards a vortex of division and confrontation,” said foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.

Push to diversify

Export giant Germany, by virtue of its economic might, has always enjoyed special ties with China.

Under former chancellor Angela Merkel, Berlin took a pragmatic approach of talking up economic opportunities while keeping less flattering opinions on rights and freedom behind closed doors.

That made China a key market for Germany’s exporters while also allowing Berlin to take in prominent human rights activists like Liu Xia, apparently without suffering any retaliatory consequences. AFP

Indonesia’s Widodo hosts Japanese Emperor Naruhito

BOGOR, Indonesia—Japanese Emperor Naruhito met Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Monday during his first state trip since ascending the Chrysanthemum Throne in 2019.

Naruhito and Empress Masako’s June 17-23 visit to Southeast Asia’s biggest economy came after Widodo invited the emperor during a trip to Tokyo last year.

The royal couple arrived at a presidential palace south of the capital Jakarta, flanked by dozens of well-wishers shouting “Welcome to Indonesia!” and a marching band that played the Japanese national anthem.

“The visit of the emperor and empress to Indonesia has further strengthened the friendship between our people,” Widodo told reporters before a formal lunch meeting.

“Such a solid foundation is necessary for the development of a strategic partnership between our two countries, especially in the economic field.”

Widodo and first lady Iriana, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, walked with the royal couple around the palace gardens and held a tree-planting welcome ceremony.

“We would like to... reflect on the history of Indonesia as well as the history of those who have dedicated themselves to promoting the friendship between our two countries,” Naruhito said.

“We wish from the bottom of our hearts that the communication among a younger generation of people from our respective counties will further our friendship.”

Tokyo and Jakarta have moved to boost ties in recent years, with Japanese officials citing the importance of Indonesia’s emerging economy and its strategic location close to global shipping lanes.AFP

Ukraine says one more village recaptured from Russia on southern war front

KYIV—Ukrainian forces have recaptured the village of Pyatykhatky from Russian troops on the southern front, Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar said on Monday.

Malyar said on social media that “eight settlements have been liberated” in total this month since the start of a counteroffensive, with 113 square kilometres of territory recaptured.

After accumulating Western-supplied weapons and building up assault units, the Ukrainian military is battling to recapture territory seized by Russia, which invaded in February 2022.

The border guard service released images of several Ukrainian servicemen holding the country’s blue-andyellow flag from Pyatykhatky.

The village is in the Zaporizhzhia region, which Russia claimed to have annexed along with three other Ukrainian regions last year, despite not fully controlling any of them.

Malyar also said Ukrainian troops were coming up against fierce resistance in the east of the country, particularly around Bakhmut, a town recently captured by Russia after months of fighting.

UK to punish Boris Johnson for ‘lies’

LONDON—British MPs vote Monday on a damning report that found ex-prime minister Boris Johnson deliberately lied to parliament about lockdown-breaking parties, in what the government hopes will be the final chapter in the damaging “Partygate” scandal. The parliamentary vote is being held on Johnson’s 59th birthday as the wounded former leader ponders his next move, with allies predicting a future return to the electoral fray.

It also comes at a time of mounting political problems for Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government as stubbornly high inflation and constantly rising interest rates inflict economic pain on voters. The populist architect of Brexit, Johnson led the Conservative party to a landslide victory at the last general election in December 2019.

But he was forced to quit as prime minister last July due to Partygate and a string of other scandals.

Johnson has rejected the report by parliament’s Privileges Committee, claiming he has been the victim of a stitch-up by political opponents and a “kangaroo court”.

The committee in a scathing 106page report on Thursday found him guilty of “repeated contempts (of parliament) and... seeking to undermine the parliamentary process.” AFP

“The Russians have transferred additional units there and increased the amount of shelling,” Malyar said.

The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based military observatory group said in an analytical note on Monday that Kyiv’s forces had likely clawed back some territory from Russian forces over the weekend.

“Ukrainian forces continued counteroffensive actions on at least four sectors of the front on June 18 and made limited territorial gains,” it said.

Meanwhile, strikes from Ukraine

SUDAN EVACUEES.

A girl cries as her group of evacuees from Sudan wait upon arrival at Baghdad International Airport in Iraq on June 18. Among the 165 evacuees are ‘dozens of Syrians and Sudanese’ nationals, the Iraqi foreign ministry said. AFP hit two Russian border regions early on Monday, wounding seven people, including a child, local governors said. Strikes on the Belgorod region hit several residential buildings in the Valuisk district, Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram.

“The Valuisk municipal district is under attack from from Ukrainian forces. According to preliminary information, seven people were wounded, among them a child,” he wrote in a post that included a photo of a teddy bear next to a broken window. AFP