BEIJING — A widely followed state-backed Chinese social media account accused Washington of repeatedly playing tricks and creating the “illusion” that it is eager to engage with China, days before an expected visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

While not yet announced by the State Department, a US official has said Mr. Blinken will be in China for talks on June 18.

The lead up to the high-level, high-stakes visit has been marred by fresh US claims of Chinese spying and scathing Chinese attacks on Washington’s sincerity to improve badly frayed bilateral ties.

Mr. Blinken, in February, canceled a visit to Beijing after a suspected Chinese spy balloon flew across the United States. Days ahead of his trip this week, US officials, including Blinken himself, said China had been spying from Cuba for some time and upgraded its intelligence gathering facilities there in 2019, claims that Beijing and Havana rejected as false.

On Monday, Mr. Blinken said China’s efforts in Cuba were part of a global effort by Beijing to expand its presence overseas, and US actions to address this since President Joseph R. Biden came to power in January 2021 have produced “results,” without specifying what those results were.

“Every time they say they want to meet, the United States would play a role and create the false illusion that it is eager to communicate while at the same time repeatedly testing and provoking China’s fundamental principles,” Yuyuan Tantian, a social media user affiliated with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, wrote in an online article on Tuesday.

The balloon incident at the beginning of the year was a “farce,” and a request by the US defense secretary to meet with his Chinese counterpart earlier this month which was rejected was nothing by a “carefully crafted” performance, it said.

Underscoring the negative mood around the Blinken visit, a man on Tuesday sprayed painted anti-American graffiti on the wall and a gate of the US consulate in Hong Kong.

Local TV footage showed the word “hegemony” in English and the words “double standards” in simplified Chinese characters, which are used in mainland China as opposed to the traditional script common in the Chinese-ruled city.

“Since the US has repeatedly emphasized the need to strengthen high-level communication with China, whether Blinken will visit China is a litmus test of US sincerity and political manoeuvring ability,” Chinese state tabloid Global Times wrote in an editorial on Sunday. — Reuters

KRYVYI RIH — Russia launched a “massive missile” attack overnight on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, killing at least three people and wounding 25 and damaging civilian infrastructure, Ukrainian officials said early on Tuesday.

Rescue operations were underway in a burning five-storey apartment building and in a destroyed warehouse, Serhiy Lysak, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region where Kryvyi Rih is located said on the Telegram messaging app.

“There are still people under the rubble of a building. There was a fire there,” Mr. Lysak said, giving the preliminary casualty figures, and posting a photograph of the apartment block with smoke pouring out of some of the blown out windows.

City mayor Oleksandr Vilkul said at least seven people were believed to be trapped under the rubble, without providing more details. Reuters could not independently verify the report.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky who was born in Kryvyi Rih, also condemned the attack on his hometown.

“Russian killers continue their war against residential buildings, ordinary cities and people,” he said on Telegram messaging app.

During the early hours of Tuesday, air raid sirens blared across the whole of Ukraine, with Kyiv’s military officials saying air defence forces destroyed all Russian missiles targeting the Ukrainian capital.

Ukraine’s top military command said that air forces destroyed 10 out of 14 cruise missiles Russia launched on Ukraine and one of the four Iranian-made drones.

It was not immediately clear how many missiles hit Kryvyi Rih and where the Russia-launched drones struck their targets.

There was no immediate comment from Russia about the reported strikes. Both Russia and Ukraine deny targeting civilians in the war which Russia launched on its neighbor nearly 16 months ago.

The mayor of the city of Kharkiv in Ukraine’s east said on his Telegram channel that Russian drones hit civilian infrastructure there, striking a warehouse and a utility firm’s building. There was no immediate information about casualties. — Reuters