Chess pieces are seen in front of displayed China's and U.S. flags in this illustration taken January 25, 2022.Chess pieces are seen in front of displayed China’s and U.S. flags in this illustration taken January 25, 2022.

One of the messages that has remained the same is that of blame the U.S. for the war in Ukraine.

Chinese state media said that the Chinese President and the US President would speak in Beijing on Friday.

It would be the first official contact between the U.S. and China since Russia invaded Ukraine.

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has not been described as an invasion or war by the Chinese state media. China's foreign ministry blamed the U.S. for fueling the tensions while refusing to call Russia's attack on Ukraine an invasion.

The criticism has not stopped.

The Chinese Communist Party's official newspaper, People's Daily, put a headline about the upcoming call in a prominent spot on the right side of its website on Friday.

The headline was from the editorial board, which said that "Sticking to double standards will only bankrupt U.S. credibility."

The U.S. plans to send $800 million in military aid to Ukraine, as well as clips of Putin blaming Western nations for global inflation, were included in a nightly news show in China.

The show closed with a warning about the risk of a global debt default because of the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rates.

The half-hour news broadcast focused on domestic affairs, including China's ability to control the recent Covid-19 outbreak.

The White House announcement included it as a topic of discussion, but the state media announcements did not mention it.

There have been reports of contact between high-level U.S. and Chinese officials. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said last week that China's relationship with Russia was as strong as it was when President Xi and Putin met.

Beijing has tried to portray itself as maintaining a relationship with Russia while working with European countries and other nations to broker peace, especially in the face of increased sanctions on Russia by the U.S., EU and other countries.

According to a report released on March 10, Beijing's support for Moscow is mostly rhetorical.

On Friday, Gabriel Wildau, senior vice president at Teneo, noted a change in that rhetoric.

He pointed out that the English-language state television broadcaster in China has highlighted civilian casualties from Russian attacks, while the Chinese-language one has reported the Ukrainian military's successes.

That is more detail than the Chinese official media has offered in the past. According to the United Nations, at least 780 civilians have been killed since Russia began its attack.

Last week Beijing announced a six-point initiative for preventing a large-scale humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, and the premier of China said he was very concerned about the situation.

The shift away from Moscow messaging by Chinese media has also targeted the U.S. audience.

In an op-ed published in the Washington Post on Wednesday, China's ambassador to the U.S. said assertions that China knew about, acquiesced to or tacitly supported the war are false.

The New York Times reported on March 3 that senior Chinese officials told their Russian counterparts not to invade Ukraine before the end of the Winter Olympics in Beijing.

There are more than 6,000 Chinese in Ukraine.

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is not good for China.

The op-ed contributed to the rally in Hong Kong and mainland Chinese stocks.