
The video chat between US President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping lasted nearly 2 hours today. Biden warned Xi of consequences if China provided material support to Russia. Biden also reiterated to Xi Jinping that the US policy towards Taiwan will remain unchanged.
This is the first video chat between Biden and Xi Jinping since Russia bombarded Ukraine for more than three weeks, and the first time since November last year. Since Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, China has so far been reluctant to publicly condemn Russia, despite repeated warnings from the U.S. side not to aid Russia or it will pay the price.
In the 1 hour and 50 minutes of the dialogue, the main discussion is the situation of Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. Biden outlined the U.S. view of the crisis with allies and partners, detailing efforts to prevent and respond to the invasion, including making Russia pay, according to the minutes of the call provided by the White House.
Biden also warned of the impact and consequences of providing material support to Russia if China carried out brutal attacks on Ukrainian cities and civilians, but also emphasized support for a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
Biden also reiterated to Xi Jinping that the U.S. policy toward Taiwan remains unchanged, stressing that the U.S. continues to support and oppose any stance that unilaterally changes the status quo.
The two leaders also agreed to maintain open lines of communication to manage the importance of competition between the two countries, and agreed to follow up on today’s dialogue at a critical time in the future.