New York (AFP) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Friday for calm over Taiwan as he met his Chinese counterpart, as soaring tensions showed signs of easing a notch. Blinken met for 90 minutes with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, in talks a US official described as “extremely candid” and focused largely on Taiwan. Blinken “stressed that preserving peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is critical to regional and global security and prosperity,” a State Department statement said. He “discussed the need to mai…