A U.S. delegation led by White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan “expressed directly and clearly” its concern about China’s support for Russia.
It happened during a meeting in Rome with Chinese Communist Party Politburo Member and Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission Yang Jiechi, a State Department spokesman, was quoted as saying yesterday.
China’s support for Russia during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will be a sign of China’s relations with the world, including U.S. allies and partners in Europe and the Indo-Pacific region, spokesman Ned Price said at a regular news conference.
A White House statement said Sullivan and Yang discussed a wide range of aspects of bilateral relations in the Italian capital “with an in-depth discussion of Russia’s war against Ukraine.”
Following the talks, the White House issued a brief statement saying Sullivan had raised “a number of issues in US-China relations, most notably Russia’s war against Ukraine.”
“We are deeply concerned about China’s rapprochement with Russia at this time, and the national security adviser has been direct about these concerns and the potential consequences and results of certain actions,” a senior administration official told reporters.
Sullivan described to Yang “the unity of the United States and its allies and partners … in imposing costs on Russia for its actions,” the official added. He described the meeting as “intense”, reflecting the “seriousness of the moment”, although it had been planned for a long time, it did not take into account the events in Ukraine and covered other issues, including North Korea, Taiwan and tense bilateral relations.
The representative of Washington said that the exchange of views was “frank” but led to concrete results. “We have made it very clear to Beijing that we will not allow any country to compensate Russia for its losses,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said at a regular briefing in Washington.
It was Sullivan’s first known meeting with Yang since the closed-door sessions in Zurich in October, which aimed to defuse tensions following a sharp public exchange of remarks between the two in Alaska a year ago.
China’s Xinhua news agency quoted Yang as saying that Beijing is committed to promoting talks on resolving the conflict in Ukraine. “China and the United States must step up dialogue, manage differences properly and avoid conflict and confrontation, he said.
China, Russia’s key trading partner, has refused to call Moscow’s invasion, although Xi Jinping last week called for “maximum restraint” and expressed concern about the impact of Western sanctions on the world economy amid growing signs that they limit China’s ability to buy Russian oil. China and the United States must step up dialogue, manage differences properly and avoid conflict and confrontation, he said.
China to react harshly if the U.S. sanctions it over Ukraine
China will react harshly if U.S. sanctions are imposed on it because of Ukraine, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on 10th March.
“I want to emphasize that sanctions will not help solve the Ukrainian issue. Time has long proved that sanctions not only do not solve problems, but also create new ones, which will not only lead to mutual loss and multiple economic losses, but also hinder the process of political settlement,” he said.
Also, as per Lijian, the U.S. is spreading disinformation about China in connection with the Ukrainian issue “in an attempt to shift the blame to others, stoke confrontation and take advantage of the situation.”
“This practice is vile and harmful,” said a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
All the circumstances of how the Ukrainian issue has developed into its current state are very clear, Zhao Lijian said. The actions of the U.S.- led NATO have brought tensions between Russia and Ukraine to the breaking point.
A day before, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that China is largely complying with anti-Russian sanctions but warned all countries about the responsibility for violation of restrictions.
China to face the consequences for military assistance to Russia – Pentagon
The U.S. authorities say that China will face the consequences if they provide military assistance to Moscow in connection with the situation around Ukraine. A statement made by a Pentagon spokesman at a briefing for journalists on Monday morning said, “We will be following this very closely,” in reply to a question about the possibility of China providing military assistance to Russia.
“As we have seen, China basically tacitly approves of what Russia is doing,” he said.
“If China decides to provide significant support to Russia, then there will probably be consequences for China in this regard,” he added.
The Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov, while briefing media on Monday, said that Moscow had not asked Beijing for help to conduct a special military operation in Ukraine. He was reacting to the story published by Financial Times that Mosco had asked for military help from China.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lijian said that U.S. media allegations that Russia had requested military assistance from China to conduct a special operation in Ukraine are disinformation.