Mon 19 September 2022:
US President Joe Biden says he told Chinese President Xi Jinping that violating sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine would be a “gigantic mistake.”
The US president stated that he spoke with Xi following the Chinese leader’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the Winter Olympics in February. Soon after, Russia launched an attack on its neighbor.
Biden made the comments in an interview with American broadcaster CBS that aired on Sunday.
“I said: ‘If you think that Americans and others will continue to invest in China based on your violating the sanctions that have been imposed on Russia, I think you’re making a gigantic mistake. But that’s your decision to make,’” said the US leader.
The call was “not to threaten” the Chinese president but to warn about the consequences of ignoring Western sanctions, Biden noted.
“Thus far, there’s no indication they’ve put forward weapons or other things that Russia has wanted,” Biden said of China.
China’s deep reliance on trade with the West means Beijing will not want to do anything that jeopardises its economy, analysts say.
Putin’s relations with the West are deteriorating as a result of his war in Ukraine. Following the deployment of troops by the Kremlin on February 24, the West imposed unprecedented sanctions on Moscow.
Since the invasion, China has thrown Russia an economic lifeline, but the moves have benefited Beijing as well. China has established itself as an alternative market for Russian goods as well as a major consumer of cheap Russian fuel.
Last week, Putin condemned those who sought to “create a unipolar world” and praised Xi for “the balanced position of our Chinese friends in connection with the Ukrainian crisis.”
During the wide-ranging CBS interview, Biden urged Putin not to use tactical nuclear or chemical weapons after a string of battlefield defeats following Ukraine’s counteroffensives.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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