Blinken: "China Becoming Increasingly Aggressive and Hostile... Aiming to Be a Global Dominant Power"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken criticized China for acting increasingly aggressively and hostilely in its quest to become the world's dominant power.

In an interview aired on the U.S. CBS program "60 Minutes" on the 2nd (local time), Secretary Blinken said, "What we have witnessed over the past few years is that China is acting more repressively at home and more aggressively abroad, and that is a fact."

When asked about the goal of such behavior, he replied, "China seems to believe that it can, should, and will become the world's dominant power."

He added, "Last week, President Xi Jinping commissioned three new advanced warships to the South Sea Fleet," and assessed, "China, which already has the largest navy in the world, could use this to invade Taiwan, a longtime U.S. ally."

When asked whether the U.S. could face a military confrontation with China, he expressed a cautious stance, saying, "Reaching such a point or heading in that direction would seriously go against the interests of both China and the United States."

Regarding how the U.S. will respond to China's growing influence, he emphasized, "The U.S. goal is not to contain China. Rather, it is to uphold the rules-based order that China is challenging. If anyone challenges that order, we will stand up to defend it."

On the issue of human rights in China, he stated, "We are clearly aware that a genocide against the Uyghurs is taking place in Xinjiang, China," emphasizing, "More than one million people have been subjected to forced detention and re-education programs."

Secretary Blinken said, "President Biden has made it clear that we are genuinely concerned about many of China's actions, including intellectual property theft," and also criticized China's behavior as "increasingly hostile and unfair competition."

However, Blinken assessed, "Building a prosperous country fundamentally depends on human resources and the nation's ability to maximize the potential of those human resources," adding, "In that regard, we are in a much better position than China."

Secretary Blinken arrived in London that night to attend the major Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers' meeting held in the UK. The meeting is expected to address vaccine supply measures for pandemic response, with China-related issues also being a major topic.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.