Biden to engage Russia’s biggest ally in speaking with China.
- By : James Bryson
- Category : International Relations, US News of note
US President Joe Biden will talk with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, on Friday, mainly about the war in Ukraine, the White House reported Thursday.
“The two leaders will discuss how to handle competition between our two countries as well as Russia’s war in Ukraine and other issues of common concern,” the White House said in a statement.
Beijing has refused to condemn its ally Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine, while blaming the escalation of tensions on NATO’s eastward expansion.
China is currently under intense diplomatic pressure from the United States and its European allies to wrest its lifeline from an isolated Russia. But three weeks after invading Ukraine, Beijing has shown little sign of abandoning its friends in the Kremlin.
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Yang Jiechi, the Chinese Communist Party’s top diplomat, met at a Rome hotel this week for what the White House described as a “momentous” meeting.
The United States later expressed concern about what it called “alignment” between Russia and China.
Russia and China have grown closer, and Washington sees it as an increasingly hostile alliance of authoritarian nuclear powers.
The US-China discussions in Rome were aimed at testing the depth of Beijing’s commitment to Moscow as Russian troops carry out their invasion of neighboring Ukraine, amid poignant images of bombed-out buildings and millions of refugees fleeing to neighboring European countries.
Since the war broke out, China has refused to condemn the actions of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, or even to describe the invasion as a war. Last week, even Beijing said the partnership between the two countries was “rock solid.”
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