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China's Xi: 'Ukraine crisis is something we don't want to see' - Biden warns against supporting Russia

2022-03-19T04:35:33.499Z


China's Xi: 'Ukraine crisis is something we don't want to see' - Biden warns against supporting Russia Created: 03/19/2022, 04:53 By: Sven Hauberg Summit meeting on the screen: US President Joe Biden (l) and China's head of state Xi Jinping (r). © Liu Bin/Xinhua/dpa US President Biden and China's head of state and party leader Xi Jinping spoke to each other for the first time in months. The ag


China's Xi: 'Ukraine crisis is something we don't want to see' - Biden warns against supporting Russia

Created: 03/19/2022, 04:53

By: Sven Hauberg

Summit meeting on the screen: US President Joe Biden (l) and China's head of state Xi Jinping (r).

© Liu Bin/Xinhua/dpa

US President Biden and China's head of state and party leader Xi Jinping spoke to each other for the first time in months.

The agenda included topics with plenty of potential for conflict.

Update from March 18, 9:25 p.m .:

According to the White House minutes of the video summit between US President Joe Biden and China’s head of state Xi Jinping, Biden first explained how the US had tried to prevent the Ukraine invasion – and then reacted to it , by ratcheting up the cost to Russia.

This is likely to be a response to the accusations repeatedly made by China's diplomats that the United States is to blame for the conflict.

Biden Xi also explained the consequences "if China provides material support to Russia in its brutal attacks on Ukrainian cities and the civilian population," the White House said on Friday.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine was the focus of the almost two-hour phone call, it said.

The two leaders had instructed their teams to continue working on what was discussed “in the coming critical phase”.

It is important for both sides to maintain open channels of communication in order to manage the competition between our two countries.

Xi Jinping: China didn't want to see the Ukraine crisis that way

Update from March 18, 3:55 p.m .:

According to Chinese state media, China’s head of state and party leader Xi Jinping appealed to the USA during his almost two-hour conversation with US President Joe Biden to work together with the People’s Republic for peace in the world.

"The crisis in Ukraine is something we don't want to see," Xi said, according to TV channel CGTN.

Xi has pointed to the new important developments in the international landscape since his last virtual meeting with Biden in November last year.

“The prevailing trend towards peace and development faces serious challenges.

The world is neither tranquil nor stable," Xi said, according to CGTN.

“Events show once again that countries should not meet on the battlefield.

Conflicts and confrontations are in nobody's interest, and peace and security are what the international community should value most."

The White House has yet to comment on the conversation.

Ukraine war: Taiwan Strait incident ahead of talks

Update from March 18, 1:40 p.m .:

Just a few hours before the planned meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping, a Chinese aircraft carrier crossed the Taiwan Strait, the strait between the People’s Republic of China and democratically governed Taiwan.

This was reported by the Reuters news agency, citing an unnamed source.

China regards Taiwan as a breakaway province and threatens to conquer the island militarily.

The Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong, which entered service in 2019, passed through the island of Kinmen, which belongs to Taiwan, and was accompanied by the US destroyer USS Ralph Johnson.

Taiwan has also sent warships to the region.

The source quoted by Reuters called it "provocative" that the Shandong passed so close to Taiwan.

Ukraine War: Biden and Xi speak for first time since Russia invasion began

First report from March 18:

Munich/Washington/Beijing – US President Joe Biden* and China's head of state and party leader Xi Jinping* will meet on Friday (March 18) for the first time since the beginning of the Ukraine war* for a virtual meeting.

The talks between the two heads of state are scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. German time and were only announced by the White House on Thursday.

"The management of competition between our two countries, as well as Russia's war against Ukraine and other issues of common interest," would be discussed, the US government said.

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Vitali Klitschko accuses Russia of lying - Russian sees Putin "in a deep mess"

The attacks in the Ukraine war continue.

According to reports from the embattled country, Russia has almost completely used up its missile stocks.

News ticker.

Vitali Klitschko accuses Russia of lying - Russian sees Putin "in a deep mess"

As reported by the state-controlled Chinese

Global Times

, citing an unspecified official, the USA* had asked for the conversation.

"Out of considerations of bilateral relations, promoting peace talks and calling on the US to take the right stance, China* accepted the proposal," the propaganda sheet said.

The US did not provide any information on which of the two sides took the initiative.

US President Biden is expected in Brussels on March 24 for talks with his NATO partners;

a meeting with the members of the EU Council is also planned.

The last known meeting between Biden and Xi was in November 2021.

At that time, the two politicians spoke - also only virtually - for around three and a half hours on topics such as human rights*, Taiwan and trade policy.

The US government then spoke of "respectful and sincere" talks, but no concrete results were achieved.

It shouldn't be any different this time, especially since both sides criticized each other sharply in advance.

Ukraine war: US warns China against supporting Russia

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned China on Thursday against providing military support to Russia in the Ukraine war.

This would entail "costs" - Blinken apparently meant possible sanctions against Beijing.

In the past few days, US media, citing government sources, had reported that Russia had requested military support from China*.

Beijing dismissed the reports as "malicious".

The Kremlin also denied that there had been a corresponding request.

Blinken said Biden will stress in his talks with Xi that China will be responsible for any support given to Russia.

Meanwhile, China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying tweeted: "The claim that China is on the wrong side of history is presumptuous.

It is the USA that is on the wrong side of history.” Since the start of the Ukraine war, Chinese propaganda has blamed the USA and the eastward expansion of NATO for the escalation.

In addition, Chinese media have been spreading the Russian claim for days that the USA is developing biological and chemical weapons in Ukraine*.

US government spokeswoman Jen Psaki recently called both Russia's claims and their proliferation by China "absurd".

It is quite possible that this topic will also be mentioned in the conversation between Xi and Biden.

Taiwan* could also be on the agenda.

China regarded the democratically governed island as a breakaway province, although Taiwan was never part of the People's Republic of China.

The Ukraine war had raised fears that China could use the Russian invasion as a blueprint for an invasion of the country*.

Ukraine war: China with balancing act between Russia and Ukraine

In the run-up to the virtual summit, Joe Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with the top Chinese foreign politician Yang Jiechi in Rome last Monday *.

After the approximately seven-hour meeting, a US government official said Sullivan had conveyed to the Chinese side Washington's "serious concern" about China's proximity to Moscow.

Should Beijing support the Kremlin in the Ukraine war, there would be “significant consequences”.

China, on the other hand, warned of "false information" intended to discredit the country.

"All sides should exercise maximum restraint, protect civilians and prevent a major humanitarian crisis," the Foreign Ministry in Beijing said after the meeting.

Since the beginning of the war, China has emphasized Ukraine's sovereignty on the one hand, and its "rock-solid" friendship with Russia on the other.

It seems extremely unlikely that Beijing will side with the West in the conflict or even join the sanctions against Russia.

The war is already weakening the Chinese economy, which is also affected by several lockdowns*;

According to an editorial published in the state-controlled

China Daily

on Thursday, Beijing does not see itself as a party in the Ukraine crisis.

Rather, Beijing seems primarily concerned with weakening the West under the leadership of the United States.

At the same time, Chinese media reports* are showing a somewhat more neutral attitude towards the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

This is still not referred to as a "war";

However, as the

Wall Street Journal

's China correspondent reports, state media have recently been ordered by Chinese censors not to report pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian, or vice versa.

However, the Chinese-Russian relations should not be badmouthed either.

On Wednesday, for example, the state television broadcaster CCTV reported heavy Russian losses, after mainly Russian propaganda had been reproduced in the previous weeks.

(sh) *

Merkur.de

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Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-03-19

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