Chinese President Xi Jinping encouraged the US and NATO to have conversations with Russia to solve the problems behind the Ukraine crisis, and expressed opposition to indiscriminate sanctions, during his video meeting with US President Joe Biden on Friday. 

The Ukraine crisis is not something we want to see, and the events again show that countries should not come to the point of meeting on the battlefield. Conflict and confrontation are not in anyone's interest, and peace and security are what the international community should treasure the most, Xi said.

After Biden said the US does not seek a new Cold War, changes in China's system, a stronger alliance against China, supporting "Taiwan secessionism" or conflict with China, Xi said he takes the remarks very seriously. 

On China-US relations, Xi said the direct cause for the current situation in the China-US relationship is that some people on the US side have not followed through on the important common understanding reached by the two presidents and have not acted on Biden's positive statements. The US has misperceived and miscalculated China's strategic intention.

The meeting lasted nearly two hours, and both Xi and Biden agreed that it was constructive, and urged working groups on both sides to take concrete actions to bring bilateral relations back to the right track and make respective efforts in solving the Ukraine crisis. 

Xi has focused on the big picture - instead of merely talking about the Ukraine crisis. He stressed China's overall views on security and diplomacy and reiterated our principles, Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

Xi's remarks on the Ukraine crisis have comprehensively declared China's stance and by standing at a higher level, he encouraged peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, and talks between the US, NATO and Russia, Lü said, noting that some US senior officials' aggressive pressuring toward China had never affected China's own pace. 

"I think the Friday talk is not only meaningful for the China-US relations, but also for the global geopolitical situation. The Chinese leader's remarks showed countries closely following the US in inciting a crisis what a responsible major power should do in facing with problems," said Lü.

Xi also made remarks on the Taiwan question. Lü said that these are signals to the US - if it keeps playing with fire on the Taiwan question and violates China's core interests, there will be no friendly or positive interactions between China and the US.

The Ukraine crisis is already a headache for the US and it will not like more confrontations with China. The US and its politicians should abandon the fantasy that they could solve all problems by imposing sanctions or coercion as it is impossible to solve global problems, including political crises or economic issues without China and Russia, Lü said.

Just hours before the meeting, China, in a rare move, sent tough signals, stating it will never accept US threats and coercion over the Ukraine issue and vowing to make a strong response if the US takes measures harming China's legitimate interests. 

In an exclusive interview with the Global Times, an anonymous Chinese official said China accepted the US' proposal for the phone call between the heads of the two countries on China-US relations and the Ukraine situation out of considerations of bilateral relations, promoting peace talks and urging the US to take right stance. 

China will never accept US threats and coercion, and if the US takes measures that harm China's legitimate interests and the interests of Chinese enterprises and individuals, China will not sit idly by and will make a strong response, the official stressed, noting the US should not have any illusions or miscalculations about this. 

China's strong signals were sent as the Biden administration has intensified its disinformation campaign over China's "military support" to Russia and attempted to threaten China with "dire consequences."

Global Times