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President Joe Biden on Friday offered a warning to Chinese President Xi Jinping as the two leaders discussed Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine, according to the White House.
“He described the implications and consequences if China provides material support to Russia as it conducts brutal attacks against Ukrainian cities and civilians,” the White House said in a statement.
Biden talked about the potential consequences not just for China’s relationship with the U.S., but for the wider world, a senior administration official told reporters.
When asked about whether Biden warned of possible sanctions on China or whether the president talked about Western companies potentially exiting China, the official declined to give any specifics.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that the administration remains concerned after the Biden-Xi call that China may answer Russia’s request for military aid. “That is something we will be watching and the world will be watching,” Psaki said.
The White House statement said Biden “reiterated that U.S. policy on Taiwan has not changed, and emphasized that the United States continues to oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo.”
Xi, for his part, told Biden that the “Ukraine crisis is not something we want to see,” according to a report from Xinhua, a Chinese state-run news agency. The Chinese leader also said peace and security are what the international community should treasure the most, and China and the U.S. should “work for world peace and tranquility,” according to that report.
In addition, Xi said all sides need to “jointly support Russia and Ukraine in having dialogue and negotiation that will produce results and lead to peace,” according to a statement from China’s ministry of foreign affairs. The U.S. and NATO should “have dialogue with Russia to address the crux of the Ukraine crisis and ease the security concerns of both Russia and Ukraine,” the statement said.
The Biden-Xi call, which had been expected to focus on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ongoing war against Ukraine, began at 9:03 a.m. Eastern and ended at 10:53 a.m. Eastern, according to the White House.
A day before the call, White House press secretary Jen Psaki described it as an opportunity to assess where Xi stands on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. She also had said the “fact that China has not denounced what Russia is doing in and of itself speaks volumes.”
U.S. stocks finished higher on Friday, with all three U.S. indexes
DJIA,
COMP,
sweeping to big weekly gains.
MarketWatch’s Robert Schroeder contributed to this article.
