JOE Biden has warned China that assisting Putin’s invasion of Ukraine will have in “consequences.”
In a call with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, US President Donald Trump spoke for nearly two hours in an attempt to dissuade the Chinese leader from assisting Vladimir Putin.
While President Xi has stated officially that China is neutral, the US is concerned after reports that Russia has requested military support from the Asian superpower.
According to Sky News, the White House stated that the two leaders agreed on the need of maintaining open lines of communication between the two countries.
Biden outlined steps to avoid and then respond to the invasion, including penalising Russia, according to a White House statement.
“He described the ramifications and repercussions if China gives material support to Russia while it conducts savage attacks against Ukrainian cities and citizens,” the statement added.
“The president reaffirmed his commitment to finding a diplomatic solution to the problem.”
The statement, however, did not go into depth on the “implications” and “consequences” that Biden noted.
“The primary priority today are to continue conversation and negotiations, avoid civilian losses, prevent a humanitarian disaster, cease combat, and terminate the war as soon as possible,” Xi stated, according to Chinese official media.
He also stated that the US and NATO should hold talks with Russia to resolve the crises’ “crux.”
China had previously accused the United States of inciting Russia and inflaming the war by transferring armaments to Ukraine.
“China has always urged for every effort to avoid civilian losses,” Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry, told reporters.
“Which do the civilians in Ukraine need more: food and sleeping bags or machine guns and artillery? It’s easy to answer.”
The phone chat between the world’s two largest economies was the latest diplomatic effort to halt Russia’s war with its neighbour.
“The two leaders spent the majority of their time discussing Russia’s unprovoked and unlawful invasion of Ukraine, as well as the consequences of the crisis for US-China relations and the international order,” a senior US source said.
Biden recently referred to Putin as a “murderous dictator,” as his administration joined a chorus of other nations accusing Russia of war crimes.
Mr Putin, on the other hand, has referred to his military offensive as a “special military operation” rather than a “war.”
Putin had earlier organised a big pro-war rally in front of a packed World Cup stadium on Friday, calling for the “reunification” of Crimea.
