NNA - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised concerns on Friday about China's support for Russia's military, one of the many issues threatening to sour the recent improvement in relations between the world's biggest economies.

Blinken raised the matter during five-and-a-half hours of talks with China's top diplomat Wang Yi in Beijing, the latest high-level contact between the countries that have reduced the acrimony that pushed ties to historic lows last year.

The U.S. diplomat is due to wrap up his visit on Friday with little progress on a raft of contentious issues including U.S. complaints about cheap Chinese exports. Instead, both sides are focusing on pragmatic issues like people-to-people exchanges.

"The Secretary discussed concerns about PRC support to the Russian defense industrial base," U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, adding the two sides also discussed Taiwan, the South China Sea and other flashpoints.

The U.S. officials say such assistance risks hurting the broader bilateral relationship, even as ties stabilise after being hit by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan in 2022 and the U.S. downing of a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon in February 2023.

China has said it has not provided weaponry to any party, adding that it is "not a producer of or party involved in the Ukraine crisis". However, it says that normal trade between China and Russia should not be interrupted or restricted.--Reuters

====================R.H.