Chinese President calls on Biden to work together for world peace
Chinese President Xi Jinping told US President Joe Biden on Friday that military conflicts were "not in anyone's interest", during a phone call with his US counterpart, who is seeking to push China away from Moscow after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"The Ukrainian crisis is not something we wanted to see," Xi Jinping stressed, according to what was quoted by China's state-run CCTV television.
"It is up to us, as permanent members of the UN Security Council and the two largest economies in the world, to not only lead the Sino-US relations on the right track, but also to shoulder the international responsibilities we owe and work towards establishing peace and tranquility in the world," Biden told Biden during the nearly two-hour call.
According to the brief television report, Xi considered that "relations between countries cannot reach the level of military actions."
The video call between the two presidents began at 13.03 GMT and continued until 14.53 GMT, according to the White House, which did not immediately disclose its content.
Biden made the call from the high-security "crisis room" from which the United States leads its most dangerous operations and its most difficult negotiations.
On Friday, US Assistant Secretary of State Wendy Sherman clearly presented the purpose of the call, telling CNN, "We want the Chinese Communist Party, which is a very important force on the international scene ... to realize that its future is with the United States, Europe and other developed and developing countries. Its future is not in Support (Russian President) Vladimir Putin."
These conciliatory statements contrast with the tone spoken by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Thursday.
"We are concerned that they will seek to help Russia directly with military equipment that may be used in Ukraine," Blinken told reporters, adding that "President Biden will speak to President Xi (Friday) and make it clear to him that China will bear responsibility for any action aimed at supporting Russia's aggression and we will not hesitate to impose a cost on her."
"We see with concern that China is considering providing direct military assistance to Russia," Blinken added.
This was the clearest warning the United States had given to China since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, after Beijing had "aligned itself" with Russia.
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