Joe.My.God. LGBT News
CNBC reports:
President Joe Biden held a nearly two-hour phone call on Friday morning with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The call 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.
According to an initial readout of the call from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Xi told Biden that the United States and China each had an obligation to promote peace. “The world is neither peaceful nor tranquil,” Xi reportedly said to Biden, and “the Ukraine crisis is not something we want to see.”
The Washington Post reports:
With the invasion into its fourth week, China’s effort to displease neither Russia nor the West is looking increasingly untenable, some experts say, as pressure mounts on Beijing to use its influence over Russian President Vladimir Putin and China’s economic ties with Russia to force a cease-fire.
Beijing is in a difficult position, said David Shullman, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub. “This war is a massive disruption at a terrible time for China,” he said. “Beijing doesn’t know how this will end … They don’t see an opportunity right now — they’re in a bind and trying to find their way through it.”
CNN reports:
Biden spoke to Xi at a key juncture. According to US officials, China is weighing whether to provide military or financial assistance to Russia, which has requested it as its military sustains major losses in Ukraine. If China agrees, it could dampen its relationship with the West for decades to come.
“We’re concerned that they’re considering directly assisting Russia with military equipment to use in Ukraine,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday, confirming what other US officials had been warning for days.
Already, the United States has conveyed to some NATO allies it believes China has some willingness to support Russia, though Moscow denies asking for it and Beijing says it’s not providing any help.
China says Xi and Biden’s two-hour call focused on the need for peace in Ukraine https://t.co/THiSaJM7ay
— CNBC (@CNBC) March 18, 2022