2 years ago
President Joe Biden’s two-hour video call with China’s President Xi Jinping on Friday exposed a deepening divide between the leaders’ positions on both the Russian invasion of Ukraine and China’s claims to Taiwan.
Biden’s outreach failed to prod Xi to commit to leveraging Chinese influence to end Russia’s aggression in Ukraine or to even use the term “invasion.” The call instead provoked Xi’s implicit criticism of the alleged U.S. role in fomenting the crisis, perceived U.S. meddling in Taiwan and bitterness toward threatened U.S. sanctions against China if it aids Russia’s war effort.
That rancor suggests that the two leaders have exhausted any residual goodwill created by their virtual meeting in November and will likely reaffirm the Biden administration’s China policy that hinges on rallying allies to counter its influence in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.
“Xi pointed out that the U.S.-China relationship has not yet emerged from the predicament created by the previous U.S. administration but has instead encountered more and more challenges,” a Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry readout from the call said. “The U.S. side has made a misreading and misjudgment of China's strategic intentions.”
A Biden administration readout from the call underscored the absence of any substantive progress in moving Xi toward adopting a more proactive and helpful role in addressing the Ukraine crisis.
“President Biden made clear the implication and consequences if China were to provide material support for Russia as it prosecutes its brutal war in Ukraine, not just for China's relationship with the United States, but for the wider world,” a senior administration official said. “[But] the president really wasn't making specific requests of China, he was laying out his assessment of the situation, what he thinks makes sense, and the implications of certain actions. I think our view is that China will make its own decisions.”
Messaging from the Chinese foreign ministry just hours ahead of Xi’s call with Biden suggested that any decisions China makes about the Ukraine crisis are unlikely to meet U.S. expectations. Instead, the Chinese government appears to be doubling down on its alignment with Russia and in opposition to U.S. efforts to compel Putin to stop the war in Ukraine.
“What the US should do is to seriously reflect on its role in the Ukraine crisis and the part it has played, effectively assume its due responsibilities, and take practical actions to ease the situation and solve the problem, instead of continuing to add fuel to the fire and shifting problems,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said. “As the culprit of the Ukraine crisis, why does the US keep smearing China instead of reflecting on the security predicament in Europe caused by the eastward expansion of US-led NATO?”
That stance tracked with Xi’s implicit dismissal of Russian responsibility for the violence while excluding China from any direct role in stopping it beyond a reiteration of China's "six point initiative" that hinges on broad international support to address Ukraine's humanitarian crisis rather than China pursuing undertaking a diplomatic initiative to end the fighting. “The United States and NATO should also engage in dialogue with Russia to untie the knot behind the Ukrainian crisis and resolve the security concerns of both Russia and Ukraine,” Xi’s readout said.
English (US)