Pressure on Beijing is increasing
Biden speaks with Chinese leader Xi
03/17/2022, 3:19 p.m
While the US President publicly calls the Russian President a “war criminal,” China shies away from clear words about the Ukraine war. Beijing does not want to alienate the Kremlin or face Western sanctions. A phone call with Biden could force President Xi to clarify.
US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping will exchange views on Friday, among other things, about the Ukraine war. “The two heads of state will discuss managing the competition between our two countries, as well as Russia’s war against Ukraine and other issues of mutual interest,” the White House said.
China is under intense pressure from the United States and its European allies to distance itself from Moscow. But three weeks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Beijing is still not ready to openly criticize the Kremlin. China has so far refused to condemn the actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin or even to describe the invasion as a war. Instead, just last week Beijing called the partnership between the two countries “rock solid.”
However, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Yang Jiechi, the Chinese Communist Party’s chief diplomat, met at a hotel in Rome this week for what the White House described as “substantive” talks. The US later expressed concern about what it called “alignment” between Russia and China. Sullivan warned Beijing on Sunday that Washington was watching closely whether and how China supported Russia. “We are concerned about this and have told Beijing that we will not stand by while any country compensates Russia for losses from economic sanctions,” he told CNN. Although he does not want to make any “threats” against rival China, “we are telling Beijing directly and privately that circumventing sanctions on a large scale will definitely have consequences.”
Biden: “Putin is a war criminal”
In its own words, China does not want to be targeted by Western sanctions because of the war. “China is not a party in the crisis and would like to be less affected by the sanctions,” said Foreign Minister Wang Yi, according to Chinese state media reports.
Meanwhile, the tone between Washington and Moscow has become sharper: statements by the US President, who had publicly described Putin as a “war criminal” the night before, were “unacceptable and unforgivable” by the Kremlin. “Our president is a very wise, far-sighted and cultured international figure,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the Interfax agency. The US government had previously avoided speaking directly of Russian war crimes.