The White House rejected China’s claim to hold an impartial position in the war in Ukraine following a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Moscow.
“I don’t think you can reasonably look at China as impartial in any way,” said John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman.
Earlier, Xi said that Beijing held an impartial position in the war after lengthy talks with Putin in Moscow.
The United States held a skeptical view of the summit, particularly China’s stated goal of acting as a peacemaker. Kirby said if China wanted to play a constructive role, it would use its influence to urge Russia to end the war.
Biden “wants to keep the lines of communication open with China” and will speak with Xi “at the appropriate time,” Kirby said.
US officials are still digesting the language of the joint statement released following the Xi-Putin meeting, but Kirby said there was little optimism at the summit’s conclusions.
“We haven’t seen anything that they’ve said, they put forward, that gives us hope that this war is going to end anytime soon,” he said.