Politics
Antony Blinken visited China, the first American secretary of state to do so in five years. He met several senior officials, as well as China’s president, Xi Jinping, who said they had made “progress” towards stabilising relations. Both sides appeared open to further talks, but no agreements were reached. Mr Blinken said there are “many issues on which we profoundly, even vehemently, disagree”. Later, at an event in California, Joe Biden called Mr Xi a dictator and said the Chinese leader had been embarrassed when America shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon in February. China said the comments were absurd.
Mr Biden described Russia’s deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus as “absolutely irresponsible”. Vladimir Putin confirmed that the first batch of weapons, which carry small warheads for battlefield use, had been sent to its ally as a warning to countries that are “thinking of inflicting a strategic defeat on us”.
The Russian authorities began a new trial of Alexei Navalny, this time accusing Russia’s most prominent opposition politician of rehabilitating Nazism while in prison. The closed-door trial is being held in the penal colony where Mr Navalny is serving over 11 years on other trumped-up charges. The preordained guilty verdict in this sham case could add another 30 years to his term.
2023-06-22 08:46:56
Article from www.economist.com