WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden said he warned his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping of damage to the investment climate if Beijing violated sanctions imposed by a coalition of countries against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
In an excerpt of an interview with CBS due to air yesterday, Biden said he told Xi that violating the sanctions would be a “gigantic mistake,” but said that so far there is no indication that China has actively supported the Russian war effort with weapons sales.
Biden said he delivered the warning in a phone call shortly after Xi met with Putin at the Beijing Winter Olympics on February 4 and expressed support for the Kremlin leader.
“I called President Xi – not to threaten at all, just to say to him... that if you think 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,” Biden said.
“Thus far, there’s no indication they put forward weapons or other things that Russia has wanted,” Biden said.
The US president also dismissed the notion that the Chinese-Russian alliance effectively means the United States is fighting a new kind of Cold War.
“I don’t think it is a new, more complicated Cold War,” he said.
Russia invaded its pro-Western neighbour Ukraine on February 24, resulting in ongoing devastation of cities and towns across much of the country. – AFP, September 19, 2022
