Chinese President Xi Jinping landed in Russia on Monday for a three-day visit becoming the first major world leader to visit the country since President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine last year. The meeting between the two leaders comes just after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin on alleged war crimes focusing on the deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.
Xi seeks his visit to be a “fruitful” one, although it’s also drawing intense suspicion from the West as it shows deepening ties between Russia and China.
The trip is seen as a major show of support for Putin who has been isolated internationally for his invasion of Ukraine. China has also been reluctant to join other major powers in sanctioning Russia since the war started. The war in Ukraine will be a major topic of discussion between the two leaders – with both blaming the West for the conflict, and Xi calling for a peace proposal that favors Russia.
“This war could actually end right now if Russia would withdraw its troops from the country,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Monday. “We hope that President Xi will press President Putin to cease bombing Ukrainian cities, hospitals, and schools, to halt the war crimes and atrocities, and to withdraw his troops. But we are concerned that instead, China will reiterate calls for a ceasefire that leaves Russian forces inside Ukraine’s sovereign territory.”
Western countries will also be watching for signs of China increasing political, financial, and military support of Russia following this week’s visit. The U.S. plans to sanction China if lethal aid is supplied to Russia for the war.
“We encourage President Xi to play a constructive role by speaking with President Zelinskyy, which he has not done since Russia launched this invasion, because China quite frankly, we believe should hear directly from the Ukrainians and not just from the Russians,” continued Kirby.
The United States claims that if Xi’s visit ends in the two countries calling for a ceasefire, that will be unacceptable, claiming all it would do is ratify Russia’s conquests thus far.
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