US Does Not Seek To Contain Russia Or China - Deputy Secretary Of State

US Does Not Seek to Contain Russia or China - Deputy Secretary of State

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th May, 2021) The Biden administration is not trying to contain Russia and China and will seek cooperation with both countries when it is their mutual interest to do so, Deputy US Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said on Friday.

"Our effort is not to contain Russia or China. They have a place in the world," Sherman told a forum on US-European Union cooperation organized by the Atlantic Council. "We are cooperating where it is in our interest to do so. We are competing effectively. We know there are areas where we need to cooperate with China."

Sherman listed key areas of mutually beneficial cooperation with Beijing included health, nuclear arms control and climate. The United States also wanted to maintain diplomatic communications with Russia and continued to work with the Kremlin in other key areas, she added.

"We want to maintain a dialogue with Russia. ...We are also working on Russia where the Arctic is concerned. There will be an Arctic Council meeting Secretary of State [Antony] Blinken will be attending. We were very glad on climate change that President [Vladimir] Putin and Xi [Jinping] attended [the recent international meeting]," she said.

Sherman noted that Russia and China understood that the current global coronavirus pandemic was in some measure connected to climate change.

She also cautioned that there remained areas where Washington and Beijing so would continue to be adversaries including the South China Sea, Hong Kong and the status of the Uighurs in Xinjiang.