Biden, China’s Xi Jinping to discuss Ukraine invasion, other issues

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced President Joe Biden will participate in a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday, Mar. 18. According to the statement, “the two leaders will discuss managing the competition between our two countries as well as Russia’s war against Ukraine and other issues of mutual concern.”

“This is part of our ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication between the United States and the [People’s Republic of China],” Psaki said in the statement.

While not being directly involved, China has not been shy to throw its support behind Russia leading up to and during the country’s invasion of Ukraine. President Xi even met with Russian President Vladimir Putin as the Beijing Olympics started. In a joint statement, Xi and President Putin declared their opposition to Ukraine becoming a member of NATO.

“The key to solving the Ukraine crisis lies with the U.S. and NATO,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a Thursday news conference. “We hope that the United States and NATO, as the culprits of the crisis, will reflect on their role in the crisis, assume their responsibilities and take concrete actions to ease the situation and solve the problem.”

Friday’s phone call between President Biden and Xi will come just days after National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with a senior Chinese foreign policy advisor for seven hours on Monday. Sullivan sought more transparency on Beijing’s posture regarding Russia and repeated that any attempts by China to help Russia avoid sanctions would be costly for Xi’s government.

“We do have deep concerns about China’s alignment with Russia at this time, and the National Security Advisor was direct about those concerns and the potential implications and consequences of certain actions,” a senior Biden administration official said during a background press call after the meeting. According to that official, the meeting also went over the situation in North Korea and the ongoing tensions regarding Taiwan.