Blinken redoubles calls for pressing North Korea, China, Iran to stop aid for Russia’s war in Ukraine

WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated calls for joint efforts to press North Korea, China and Iran to stop providing support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, stressing the need to bring a “just and lasting” peace in the war-torn country.

Blinken made the remarks during a press conference, touching on various issues, including heightened tensions between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and the war between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza. He was in New York to attend the high-level week of the UN General Assembly, Yonhap news agency reported.

“At the Security Council on Tuesday, the overwhelming majority of countries condemned Russia’s brutal war of conquest and called for a just and lasting peace based on the UN Charter,” the Secretary told reporters.

“Crucial to that is pressing Iran, North Korea and China, a permanent member of the council, to stop providing weapons, artillery, machinery and other support that Putin is using to devastate Ukrainian homes, energy grids and ports,” he added.

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Blinken pointed out that international support for Ukraine is not just rhetorical, but “tangible.”

This week, dozens of countries came together to pledge to help Ukraine rebuild its war-ravaged country, he noted, while the Group of Seven countries and others made additional commitments to strengthen Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

As a diplomatic outcome at the Assembly, Blinken mentioned his trilateral engagement with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa on Monday — a meeting centring on joint efforts to “institutionalised” a three-way cooperation.

“Along with my counterparts from Japan and South Korea, we took measures to institutionalise our trilateral cooperation, building on the historic Camp David summit and reaffirming our shared commitment to creating a trilateral secretariat to advance this work,” he said.

He was referring to the first standalone trilateral summit at Camp David in Maryland in August last year. It produced a series of landmark agreements, including the “Commitment to Consult” with each other in the event of a shared threat.

At the trilateral gathering, the three sides underscored their joint efforts to establish a secretariat, to be finalised when their leaders meet later this year, according to officials.

On Friday, Blinken had what he called a “candid” and “substantive” meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.

The two sides discussed efforts to improve communication between their countries’ militaries and risks associated with artificial intelligence as well as issues related to the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea.