Xi tells Biden that China didn’t want Russia’s Ukraine invasion
BNN Bloomberg
Chinese leader Xi Jinping assured U.S. President Joe Biden that his country didn’t want war in Ukraine during a highly anticipated, two-hour video conference on Friday, their first conversation since Russia’s invasion last month.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping assured U.S. President Joe Biden that his country didn’t want war in Ukraine during a highly anticipated, two-hour video conference on Friday, their first conversation since Russia’s invasion last month.
Xi told Biden that the invasion “is not something we want to see,” according to summaries released by the Chinese side, and that “the events again show that countries should not come to the point of meeting on the battlefield.”
The White House has not yet issued a statement on the call.
The video conference began shortly after 9 a.m. Washington time and ended just before 11 a.m. It was an opportunity for Biden to assess where Beijing stands on the war and how Xi views his country’s role, after some Chinese officials issued conflicting statements on their support for Ukraine and Russia.
Xi lamented the state of the world, according to his government’s statement, observing that “the prevailing trend of peace and development is facing serious challenges” and “the world is neither tranquil nor stable.”
But he criticized Western sanctions against Russia, saying that “the ordinary people are the ones who suffer,” according the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
