Biden Officials Repeatedly Urged China to Help Avert War in Ukraine - The New York Times
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Americans presented Chinese officials with intelligence on Russia's troop buildup in hopes that President Xi Jinping would step in, but were repeatedly rebuffed.
President Biden participated in a video summit with President Xi Jinping of China in November.
Feb. 25, 2022Updated 10:06 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON — Over three months, senior Biden administration officials held half a dozen urgent meetings with top Chinese officials in which the Americans presented intelligence showing Russia's troop buildup around Ukraine and beseeched the Chinese to tell Russia not to invade, according to U.S. officials.
Each time, the Chinese officials, including the foreign minister and the ambassador to the United States, rebuffed the Americans, saying they did not think an invasion was in the works. After one diplomatic exchange in December, U.S. officials got intelligence showing Beijing had shared the information with Moscow, telling the Russians that the United States was trying to sow discord — and that China would not try to impede Russian plans and actions, the officials said.
The previously unreported talks between American and Chinese officials show how the Biden administration tried to use intelligence findings and diplomacy to persuade a superpower it views as a growing adversary to stop the invasion of Ukraine, and how that nation, led by President Xi Jinping, persistently sided with Russia even as the evidence of Moscow's plans for a military offensive grew over the winter.
This account is based on interviews with senior administration officials with knowledge of the conversations who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the diplomacy. The Chinese Embassy did not return requests for comment.
China is Russia's most powerful partner, and the two nations have been strengthening their bond for many years across diplomatic, economic and military realms. Mr. Xi and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, two autocrats with some shared ideas about global power, had met 37 times as national leaders before this year. If any world leader could make Mr. Putin think twice about invading Ukraine, it was Mr. Xi, went the thinking of some U.S. officials.
But the diplomatic efforts failed, and Mr. Putin began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Thursday morning after recognizing two Russia-backed insurgent enclaves in the country's east as independent states.
In a call on Friday, Mr. Putin told Mr. Xi that the United States and NATO had ignored Russia's "reasonable" security concerns and had reneged on their commitments, according to a readout of the call released by the Chinese state news media. Mr. Xi reiterated China's public position that it was important to respect the "legitimate security concerns" as well as the "sovereignty and territorial integrity" of all countries. Mr. Putin told Mr. Xi that Russia was willing to negotiate with Ukraine, and Mr. Xi said China supported any such move.
Some American officials say the ties between China and Russia appear stronger than at any time since the Cold War. The two now present themselves as an ideological front against the United States and its European and Asian allies, even as Mr. Putin carries out the invasion of Ukraine, whose sovereignty China has recognized for decades.
The growing alarm among American and European officials at the alignment between China and Russia has reached a new peak with the Ukraine crisis, exactly 50 years to the week after President Richard M. Nixon made a historic trip to China to restart diplomatic relations to make common cause in counterbalancing the Soviet Union. For 40 years after that, the relationship between the United States and China grew stronger, especially as lucrative trade ties developed, but then frayed due to mutual suspicions, intensifying strategic competition and antithetical ideas about power and governance.
In the recent private talks on Ukraine, American officials heard language from their Chinese counterparts that was consistent with harder lines the Chinese had been voicing in public, which showed that a more hostile attitude had become entrenched, according to the American accounts.
On Wednesday, after Mr. Putin ordered troops into eastern Ukraine but before its full invasion, Hua Chunying, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said at a news conference in Beijing that the United States was "the culprit of current tensions surrounding Ukraine."
ImageHua Chunying, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, accused the U.S. of heightening tensions in Ukraine.Credit...Noel Celis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
"On the Ukraine issue, lately the U.S. has been sending weapons to Ukraine, heightening tensions, creating panic and even hyping up the possibility of warfare," she said. "If someone keeps pouring oil on the flame while accusing others of not doing their best to put out the fire, such kind of behavior is clearly irresponsible and immoral."
She added: "When the U.S. drove five waves of NATO expansion eastward all the way to Russia's doorstep and deployed advanced offensive strategic weapons in breach of its assurances to Russia, did it ever think about the consequences of pushing a big country to the wall?" She has refused to call Russia's assault an "invasion" when pressed by foreign journalists.
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Our current administration may be the most naïve and stupid in the history of this country. China is not your friend, they are your enemy morons!
I don't think there is any question about it.
The U.S. met with China over three months to present intelligence showing Russia’s troop buildup near Ukraine and to urge Beijing to help avert war, U.S. officials said. Chinese officials rebuffed the U.S. and shared the information with Moscow.
China wants Russian support for when they take Taiwan. Of course they aren't going to help the US/NATO! In fact look for China to leverage what Russia is doing into taking Taiwan. US is over committing to the weak former Soviet now NATO states in Eastern Europe. There is no way we could do anything but watch China swallow Taiwan whole at this point.
Expect a few hundred "But Trruuummmmppppp" in return.
I doubt this invasion would have happened had Trump been reelected.
I don't think it would have happened; because we would still be in Afghanistan pounding the living hell out of the Taliban, ISIS/ISIL, ISIS-k, and Al Qaeda. Trump would be making bomb and missile manufacturers very, very, happy.
Think China and Russia wouldn't have taken notice? They sure as hell took notice of Biden's completely fucked up withdrawal; and that he abandoned US citizens to the Taliban. At any time Biden have unleashed the US military when the Taliban were exposed before they entered Kabul- and decimated them. Then chased them back into the mountains and bombed them into oblivion. He didn't, and we are paying for his weakness.
You're right. trump would have freely handed it over to putin.
Hmmm, so Joe gave an enemy of the US intelligence regarding Russian buildup and then that enemy of the US gave that information to another enemy of the US.
There is a word for that that escapes me at the moment but I am pretty sure it begins with a T.
So you think Russia didn't already know where their troops and equipment were?
Excellent way to miss the point.
Are you being obtuse on purpose?
If the point wasn't that Biden gave Russia, via China, information that Russia already had, what is the point????
And why is Right Down the Center upset about it.
And why are you, once again, butting into someone else's conversation?
And how do you know what Right Down the Center's point is? Do you sit next to him?
Biden gave info to our enemies. Good job, Joe!
You would need to ask HIM that.
I am not sure you aware of this, but this is an open forum. I'll let you figure out what that means.
Well, I read and comprehend very well. I swear, it is just like magic--I read and suddenly understand what I read! I recommend it for all.
Why, yes, yes, I do "sit next to him" on the internet. Brilliant deduction. SMMFH.
I am not upset about it. I don't know why you would believe I am just because I said Joe is letting Russia know that we are aware of their troop movements and that translates into being a traitor. It sure would if Trump did it, ya know? . Seems the Chinese thought it was important enough to pass the information on and I would think Putin was glad to get it.
Well said.
{chuckle} many of us do....
He gave them info they already know. What's the big deal? It's not like he was giving away the location of any of our nuclear subs...
I would, but you seem to have intimate knowledge of him.
But once again, you add nothing to the conversation. The term for that is Trolling, BTW.
Your posts indicate otherwise.
You realize that this means you have a neighboring IP address, putting you in the same building as him, at the very least... Right? Or do I need to explain how IP Addressing works?
Then why did you bother posting about it?
You like pretending you know what other people think, don't you?
No I would not think that of Trump, if that were the example. I would think that, however, if he were giving away nuclear sub locations, or classified info that would allow them to find our agents in their country.
Why would you think that?
Xi Jinping to Putin: By the way, America knows what you are doing with your troops.
If you don't know by now, there is nothing I can type that will change that.
Yeah, I can't help what you assume or think you know.
I have known for a long time you couldn't understand my posts.
Yawn. Same building??WTF???
Hilarious drivel.
Again well said.
I never received a response about being deliberately obtuse. Never got an answer but he must be doing it deliberately.......
Hard to tell, isn't it?
He's already given one enemy of the US $500,000,000 in military hardware. It's almost a given that he would give out intelligence as well.
Yeah, yeah. Blame China. Blame Trump. Blame Germany. Blame anybody and everybody. But make sure no one blames Biden.
Biden has screwed this up so badly that the situation can't be fixed. This is Biden's Afghanistan 2.0. Biden couldn't find his way out of a men's room without a GPS, two maps, and a Sherpa guide.
I note that the word "obtuse" was used in the conversation above. A very kind definition of that word is "slow to understand". What I see from the conversation above is a lot of obtuse commentary. Look again at this quotation from the seed:
What amazes me is the lack of telling the REAL reason in clear simple language why the relationship frayed, and the fact that the comments above don't acknowledge it, is because the western nations, especially the USA, increasingly criticized, alienated, demonized, interfered in the domestic affairs of, threatened China by forming alliances to contain China, that China was virtually PUSHED to strengthen its ties to Russia. Both China and Russia have a lot to gain from each other what the West is going to lose from both of them as a result, especially when all the threatened and imposed sanctions take effect.
An interesting aside is that, according to the recent UNSC vote, the nations that do NOT oppose Russia's incursion contain about 2/3rds of the world's population. Wouldn't that be considered a "super majority" in a democracy?