WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview that aired on Sunday that China had recently acted “more aggressively abroad” and was behaving “increasingly in adversarial ways.”

Asked by CBS News’ 60 Minutes if Washington was heading toward a military confrontation with Beijing, Mr. Blinken said: “It’s profoundly against the interests of both China and the United States to, to get to that point, or even to head in that direction.”

He added: “What we’ve witnessed over the last several years is China acting more repressively at home and more aggressively abroad. That is a fact.”

Asked about the reported theft of hundreds of billions of dollars or more in US trade secrets and intellectual property (IP) by China, Mr. Blinken said the Biden administration had “real concerns” about the IP issue.

He said it sounded like the actions “of someone who’s trying to compete unfairly and increasingly in adversarial ways. But we’re much more effective and stronger when we’re bringing like-minded and similarly aggrieved countries together to say to Beijing: ‘This can’t stand and it won’t stand.’”

The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond on Sunday to a request for comment on Blinken’s interview.

On Friday, President Joseph R.  Biden’s administration said China had fallen short on its commitments to protect American intellectual property in the “Phase 1” US-China trade deal signed last year.

The commitments were part of the sweeping deal between former President Donald Trump’s administration and Beijing, which included regulatory changes on agricultural biotechnology and commitments to purchase some $200 billion in US exports over two years.

Mr. Blinken arrived in London on Sunday for a G7 (Group of 7) foreign ministers meeting where China is one of the issues on the agenda.

In the interview, Mr. Blinken said the United States was not aiming to “contain China” but to “uphold this rules-based order — that China is posing a challenge to. Anyone who poses a challenge to that order, we’re going to stand up and — and defend it.”

Mr. Biden has identified competition with China as his administration’s greatest foreign policy challenge. In his first speech to Congress last Wednesday, he pledged to maintain a strong US military presence in the Indo-Pacific and to boost US technological development. 

Mr. Blinken said he speaks to Mr. Biden “pretty close to daily.”

Last month, Mr. Blinken said the United States was concerned about China’s aggressive actions against Taiwan and warned it would be a “serious mistake” for anyone to try to change the status quo in the western Pacific by force.

The United States has a long-standing commitment under the Taiwan Relations Act to ensure that self-governing Taiwan has the ability to defend itself and to sustain peace and security in the western Pacific, Mr. Blinken said.

Taiwan has complained over the past few months of repeated missions by China’s air force near the island, which China claims as its own. — Reuters

BENGALURU — India on Monday reported more than 300,000 new coronavirus cases for a 12^th straight day, taking its overall caseload to just shy of 20 million, while deaths from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) rose by 3,417.

With 368,147 new cases over the past 24 hours, India’s total infections stand at 19.93 million, while total fatalities are 218,959, according to health ministry data.

Medical experts say real numbers across the country of 1.35 billion may be five to 10 times higher than the official tally.

Hospitals have filled to capacity, medical oxygen supplies have run short and morgues and crematoriums have been swamped as the country deals with the surge in cases.

At least 11 states and union territories have imposed some form of restrictions to try and stem infections, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is reluctant to impose a national lockdown, concerned about the economic impact.

“In my opinion, only a national stay at home order and declaring a medical emergency will help to address the current healthcare needs,” Bhramar Mukherjee, an epidemiologist with the University of Michigan said on Twitter.

“The number of active cases is accumulating, not just the daily new cases. Even the reported numbers state there are around 3.5M active cases.”

The spike in infections is India’s biggest crisis since Mr. Modi took office in 2014. Mr. Modi has been criticized for not taking steps earlier to curb the spread and for letting millions of largely unmasked people attend religious festivals and crowded political rallies in five states during March and April.

A forum of scientific advisers set up by the government warned Indian officials in early March of a new and more contagious variant of the coronavirus taking hold in the country, five scientists who are part of the forum told Reuters.

Despite the warning, four of the scientists said the federal government did not seek to impose major restrictions to stop the spread of the virus.

It remains to be seen how his handling of the crisis might affect Mr. Modi or his party politically. The next general election is due in 2024. Mr. Modi’s party was defeated in India’s West Bengal state in results declared on Sunday, although it won in the neighboring state of Assam.

Leaders of 13 opposition parties on Sunday signed a letter urging Mr. Modi to immediately launch free national vaccination and to prioritize oxygen supply to hospitals and health centres.

Several states have postponed widening a vaccination drive for adults that was to start on Saturday due to a lack of vaccines. The national health ministry says states have 10 million vaccines stockpiled and 2 million more coming in the next three days.

Despite being the world’s biggest producer of vaccines, India does not have enough for itself — undermining a plan to ramp up and widen inoculation from Saturday. Only about 9% of its 1.4 billion people have had a dose.

India has struggled to increase capacity beyond 80 million doses a month due to lack of raw materials and a fire at the Serum Institute, which makes the AstraZeneca vaccine.

International aid has been pouring into India.

Britain will send another 1,000 ventilators to India, the government said on Sunday. Prime ministers Boris Johnson and Mr. Modi are scheduled to talk on Tuesday.

The Indian COVID-19 variant has now reached at least 17 countries including Britain, Switzerland and Iran, leading several governments to close their borders to people travelling from India. — Reuters