“China can’t have it both ways when it comes to … the Russian aggression in Ukraine. It can’t be putting forward peace proposals on the one hand, while actually feeding the flames of the fire that Russia has started with the other hand,” Blinken said in Kazakhstan. US officials have spent the last ten days issuing warnings that they believe China is considering sending lethal aid to Russia. This has angered Beijing and highlighted how already deteriorating diplomatic relations are being rocked by almost daily crises, such as the recent spy balloon controversy and the resurrected argument over the precise origins of Covid-19.