President Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke for nearly two hours on Friday to discuss Russia’s unprompted invasoin of Ukraine, CNBC reports.
The strategic conversation “was seen as a critical test of whether Biden can convince China to stay on the sidelines of the conflict in Ukraine, and to turn down Russian requests for military or economic aid,” CNBC writes. Here’s what we know about the conversation so far.
The White House has not yet issued a formal readout of the call, but did note the conversation began after 9 a.m. and lasted just under two hours — “an unusually long time for a presidential call with the leader of a U.S. adversary,” CNBC notes.
According to a summary of the conversation from the Chinese, however, Xi reportedly told Biden that both the U.S. and China had an obligation to promote peace between Russia and Ukraine.
“The world is neither peaceful nor tranquil,” the Chinese leader is said to have told Biden, per CNBC, and “the Ukraine crisis is not something we want to see.”
Xi also reportedly told the president that, as economic behemoths, both the U.S. and China “must not only lead the development of China-US relations on the right track, but also shoulder our due international responsibilities and make efforts for world peace and tranquility,” per the Chinese summary of the call.
Beijing has thus far refused to explicitly condemn Russia’s actions against Ukraine, but is still calling for a diplomatic solution to the crisis, Reuters writes. The Biden administration previously warned China not to aid Russia in the war.
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