President Biden has warned China about inevitable “consequences” should the country choose to aid their ally Russia.
Amid growing concerns that China could provide material or financial support to Russia during its invasion of Ukraine, the White House has issued a warning to Beijing.
As Biden warned Chinese President Xi Jinping, undisclosed “implications and consequences” will swiftly follow if “China provides material support to Russia as it conducts brutal attacks against Ukrainian cities and civilians.”
The warning comes after China took a neutral stance on the occupation of Ukraine and refused to condemn Putin’s actions loud and clear, prompting the West to fear it might follow suit by invading Taiwan.
The two world leaders spoke to each other directly via a video call that reportedly lasted nearly two hours.
Speaking of the virtual meeting, a White House official said:
“I would say the conversation was direct. It was substantive and it was detailed. The two leaders spent the preponderance of their time discussing Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine, as well as the implications of the crisis for US China relations and the international order.”
While no conclusive agreements or decisions were reached during the call, both parties allegedly agreed to keep the communication between the US and China open.
Meanwhile, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said it was now up to China to make a decision about how they wish to deal with Russia and Putin’s invasion of Ukraine at this time.
“Because China has to make a decision for themselves about where they want to stand and how they want the history books to look at them and view their actions. And that is a decision for President Xi and the Chinese to make,” Psaki said when probed about the details of the conversation between the two world leaders.
While China repeatedly refused to get on Russia’s bad side, President Xi reportedly agreed with Biden that “Ukraine crisis is something we don’t want to see,” signaling that the Chinese government opposes the war in Europe.
“We should not only steer China-US relations forward on the right track, but we should also shoulder our international responsibilities and strive for world peace and tranquility,” the Chinese president said.
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