Joe Biden and Xi Jinping failed to bridge their differences over the Ukraine war, with the US president warning of “consequences” if Beijing provided military aid to the Kremlin while China’s leader lashed out at “sweeping and indiscriminate sanctions” imposed on Russia by the west.
The diplomatic stand-off came during a two-hour call between the two leaders on Friday, held at the end of a week in which Washington raised fears that China would aid the struggling Russian military, which has seen its advance in Ukraine largely come to a halt in the face of fierce resistance.
The White House said Biden raised those concerns during the call, saying he “described the implications and consequences if China provides material support to Russia”.
In Beijing’s account of the call, it said Xi criticised the economic punishment the US and its allies have imposed on Russia in response to the invasion, which could be extended to other countries, including China, if they side with Moscow.
“Sweeping and indiscriminate sanctions would only make the people suffer. If further escalated, they could trigger serious crises in global economy and trade, finance, energy, food and industrial and supply chains, crippling the already languishing world economy and causing irrevocable losses,” Xi said, according to the Chinese account.
Still, Beijing said Xi asked Biden for a “cool-headed and rational” approach to the conflict; stressed that “the Ukraine crisis is not something we want to see”; and said that the US and China “must shoulder our share of international responsibilities and work for world peace and tranquility”.
The call between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies was the latest diplomatic effort to end Russia’s war against its neighbour — and US officials said Biden offered a lengthy description of both the invasion and the western response.
The Financial Times reported this week that Moscow had requested several categories of weapons, including drones, from Beijing.
US officials did not offer any further details of the potential punishment for China following the call, or provide an assessment of whether Xi had already decided whether to support Russia.
But Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, said the US had a “range of tools” at its disposal, including sanctions, and that the potential western response would probably be discussed when Biden travels to Europe next week to meet with Nato, EU and G7 leaders.
“We will see . . . what decision China makes in the days and weeks ahead,” a senior Biden administration official told reporters, adding that the call was intended to ensure that Xi and Biden could have a “direct, candid, detailed and very substantive conservation”.
China has been Putin’s most important supporter in both the run-up to the invasion and in the first weeks of the conflict. In Beijing’s account of the Biden call, Xi told the US president: “The pressing priority is to keep the dialogue and negotiation going, avoid civilian casualties, prevent a humanitarian crisis, and cease hostilities as soon as possible.”
As the two leaders spoke, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continued on its 23rd day and Putin attended a massive rally at a stadium in Moscow in support of the war.
He vowed that Russia would “realise all the plans we have set for ourselves” as he addressed a crowd that state media said exceeded 200,000 people in the venue that hosted the 2018 World Cup final. He said Russia had invaded Ukraine to protect Russian speakers from “genocide”.
In a call on Friday with Olaf Scholz, Germany’s chancellor, Putin accused Ukraine of “trying to drag out” settlement talks with “new unrealistic proposals”.
While China publicly claims to have a neutral stance, the US is concerned that it is moving closer to supporting Russia with military equipment. Beijing has also avoided describing the war as an “invasion”, referring instead to the Ukraine “issue” or “crisis”.
Putin has shown little sign of letting up military pressure. Russia’s assault on Ukraine has now reached the outskirts of Lviv, according to local authorities, in an attack that signalled Moscow’s willingness to expand its bombardment to the country’s west.
Andriy Sadovyy, the city’s mayor, said missiles had struck an area near the airport but that no casualties were reported. The Ukrainian air force said Russia had fired six cruise missiles at the area from the Black Sea, two of which were destroyed by anti-aircraft missiles.
Western officials say Putin’s forces have made little progress in capturing territory this week, as troops have been diverted to defend strained supply lines from what UK intelligence services described as “incessant Ukrainian counter-attacks”.
With Ukraine’s biggest cities still out of Russian control, Putin’s forces have increasingly relied on heavy weapons and missile attacks to grind down resistance and destroy swaths of civilian infrastructure. About 3.2mn Ukrainians have fled the country, representing roughly 7 per cent of the population.
Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, told Putin in a telephone call on Friday afternoon of his “extreme worry” over the city of Mariupol where hundreds of thousands of civilians remain besieged by Russian forces. Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, said 130 people had been rescued from the rubble of a bombed theatre in the city but hundreds more remained trapped.
The Biden administration is paying close attention to whether China helps Russia circumvent the sanctions that the west has imposed on Putin and his regime.
Xi and Putin issued a statement last month in which the leaders described their growing partnership as having “no limits”.
China has called for talks between Kyiv and Moscow, and Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, signalled in early March that Beijing could play a role as a mediator after speaking with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.
But Beijing has consistently blamed Nato and the EU for pressuring Putin ahead of the war. Chinese diplomats and state media have also repeated Russia’s disinformation reports that the US was using Ukraine to research dangerous biological weapons.
Additional reporting by William Langley in Hong Kong
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2022-03-18 20:50:22Z
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