US Relations With China, Russia: Blinken Warns Countries About Military Strikes

In a wide-ranging interview Sunday on NBC’s "Meet the Press," Secretary of State Antony Blinken affirmed U.S. commitment to Taiwan amid escalating tension with China, adding that it would “be a serious mistake for anyone to try to change the existing status quo by force."

"We have a commitment to Taiwan under the Taiwan Relations Act, a bipartisan commitment that's existed for many, many years, to make sure that Taiwan has the ability to defend itself, and to make sure that we're sustaining peace and security in the Western Pacific. We stand behind those commitments," he told anchor Chuck Todd.

Blinken would not discuss potential U.S. military intervention. "I'm not going to get into hypotheticals," he said.

Blinken also addressed Russia, which has built up military forces near its border with Ukraine. He said he had "real concerns" about the border.

"President Biden's been very clear about this. If Russia acts recklessly, or aggressively, there will be costs, there will be consequences,” Blinken said.

Blinken also talked about China not disclosing the origins of COVID and pushed for more transparency from China.

"I think China knows that in the early stages of COVID, it didn’t do what it needed to do, which was to in real-time give access to international experts, in real-time to share information, in real-time to provide real transparency. And one result of that failure is that the [virus] got out of hand faster and with I think much more egregious results than it might otherwise," he said.