Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping has reportedly not told Russian Vladimir Putin to stand down from invading Ukraine, according to officials from both nations.
“It seeks not only to smear and drive a wedge in China-Russia relations but also to deliberately disrupt and undermine the Beijing Winter Olympics,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters, according to the Washington Examiner.
“Such a despicable trick cannot fool the international community,” he added.
Though China may have the biggest influence on whether Russia moves forward with an invasion of Ukraine, the nation has publicly remained silent on the issue.
“And no one is happier with Biden’s pathetically weak stance on Ukraine than China. If Russia invades Ukraine, there’s nothing stopping China from moving to take Taiwan,” writer Adrian Norman noted.
The growing concern with Ukraine also shows how little Biden is likely to respond to China’s growing aggression toward Taiwan, another concern among the president’s growing international problems.