China says Xi and Biden’s two-hour call focused on the need for peace in Ukraine

A screen shows Chinese President Xi Jinping attending a virtual meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden via video link, at a restaurant in Beijing, China November 16, 2021.

President Joe Biden held a phone call with the Chinese President on Friday to discuss the situation in Ukraine.

The call was seen as a test of whether Biden could convince China to stay out of the conflict in Ukraine and turn down Russian requests for military or economic aid.

According to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the United States and China have an obligation to promote peace.

The White House said the call began just after 9 a.m. and lasted two hours. It was an unusual long time for a presidential call with the leader of a U.S. adversary.

It was not clear whether the American president had shifted the thinking of the Chinese leader on Russia.

The world is neither peaceful nor tranquil, and the Ukraine crisis is not something we want to see, according to reports.

Conflict and confrontation are not in anyone's interest, and peace and security are what the international community should treasure the most, according to reports.

The Chinese summary of the call said that the U.S. and China, as permanent members of the UN Security Council and the world's two largest economies, must lead the development of China-US relations on the right.

Pentagon officials said last week that Moscow has asked Beijing for military and economic assistance to wage its war against Ukraine, and that initial intelligence reports suggested China had agreed.

Both the Russian and Chinese governments deny that Moscow has reached out to Beijing.

The economic sanctions imposed on Russia by NATO members and the G-7 countries in response to the invasion have left Russia isolated and desperate for financial assistance and military supplies.

Defense officials said Beijing appeared to be open to supplying Russia with military supplies, but there were few signs that China would help Moscow evade economic sanctions.

The economic battle between Russia and the rest of the developed world has little interest in Beijing.

China is not a party to the crisis and does not want the sanctions to affect it, Wang Yi said during a phone call with Spain's foreign minister.

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