Foreign media reports: The "2+2" talks between Britain and Australia are aimed at China and Russia

British Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Traus claimed in Australia that Britain and its Western allies must work together to deal with so-called "global threats" and deepen ties with countries in the "Indo-Pacific" region, Sydney reported on January 21.

According to the report, on Friday local time, Traus and British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace attended the annual Anglo-Australian ministerial talks and met with Australian Foreign Minister Maris Payne and Defense Secretary Peter Dutton. Officials also discussed an agreement on Australia's acquisition of nuclear submarines.

In a joint statement issued after the meeting, ministers expressed concern about Russia's build-up of troops near Ukraine's borders and "expressed strong support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity."

Tras spoke at the Lowy Institute in Sydney. She warned Putin to "hurry up and retreat from Ukraine before making a major strategic mistake."

Mr. Tellas also claimed that China's so-called "economic coercion" of Australia had made Britain understand that Beijing was using its economic power to exert influence on other countries.

A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry has previously said that China has always adhered to the concept of openness, inclusiveness, mutual benefit and win-win results, promoted the construction of an open world economy, and shared development opportunities with other countries. Australia has benefited greatly from its cooperation with China and is a beneficiary of China's development. China has never done anything that undermines Australia's sovereignty. The so-called "economic coercion" hat is definitely not on China's head. On the contrary, on the contrary, the Australian side has taken measures that violate market principles and even bullying behavior, set unprovoked restrictions on normal exchanges and cooperation between the two countries, and interfered with the good development momentum of China-Australia pragmatic cooperation; on the other hand, it regards itself as a "victim" and beats up a rake on the Chinese side, and also pulls gangs and parties to exert pressure on China, violates international law and the basic norms governing international relations, grossly interferes in China's internal affairs, and harms China's core interests. The spokesman stressed that the current difficult situation in Sino-Australian relations is entirely caused by the Australian side. At present, the Australian side must squarely face the crux of the setback in bilateral relations, abandon the Cold War mentality and ideological prejudices, respect basic facts, view China and China's development objectively and rationally, earnestly uphold the principle of mutual respect and equal treatment in handling bilateral relations, stop clamoring for so-called "China coercion" out of its own political self-interest, and do more things conducive to enhancing mutual trust between the two countries and promoting pragmatic cooperation, rather than the opposite.

Source: Reference News Network