Blinken meets Chinese top diplomat amid tensions from two global rivals

Top diplomats from China and the United States began talks in Laos on Saturday, as two global powers try to preserve communication lines despite their deepening rivalry and regional tensions in Asia.

State Secretary Antony Blinken is located in Laos as part of a visit to Asia on the backdrop of a tough US presidential election campaign that has renewed regional control over what the world will look like with a new administration at the White House.

Blinken is meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Foreign Minister Wang Yi in the Magnition of ASEAN foreign ministers' meetings in Laos ʹ the first part of a weeklong trip, which also includes stops in Vietnam, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore and Mongolia, writes CNN, broadcast the Express newspaper.

Tensions between the US and China have continued in recent months, even though the administration of President Joe Biden has sought to stabilise difficult relations between the two global rivals.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as China's increasingly secure movements in the South China Sea and the threats to Taiwan, have exacerbated Washington-Pekin relations in recent years.

Earlier this week, the North American Airspace Defense Command tracked two Russian and two Chinese bombers flying near Alaska, in what an American defence official said was the first time the two countries were caught working together.

China's continued support for Russia more than two years after Moscow's invasion has been a continuing point of tension for the US, its allies and Ukrainians.

When NATO leaders met earlier this month, a joint statement called Beijing a key “wrestler of Russia's fight against Ukraine, citing that China gives “broad support for Russia's” industrial defence base.

The US and the European Union in recent months have charged China with strengthening Russia's defence sector with exporting dual-use goods and sanctioning dozens of companies in Hong Kong and mainland China for avoiding broad measures imposed on Russia. Beijing has denied supply of weapons and claims to hold strict controls for such goods.

Beijing has sought to position itself as a neutral mediator of peace in the conflict, despite deepening its political, economic and military ties with Moscow and Chinese leader Xi Jinping's close friendship with Russia's Vladimir Putin.