During his sit-down meeting with President Biden today, Chinese general secretary Xi Jinping said that he opposes the use of nuclear weapons by Russia in its war against Ukraine, according to the White House. That disclosure follows a few other indications that Beijing is, at least in conversations with foreign officials, rhetorically distancing itself from Moscow’s war.
The disclosure came in the White House’s statement about the two leaders’ meeting today in Bali, Indonesia, on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit. “President Biden raised Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine and Russia’s irresponsible threats of nuclear use,” the summary read. “President Biden and President Xi reiterated their agreement that a nuclear war should never be fought and can never be won and underscored their opposition to the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine.”
For its part, the Chinese summary did not mention any discussion about Putin’s nuclear threats, and reiterated Beijing’s long-standing talking points on the war. “China has always been on the side of peace and will continue to urge peace and negotiation,” that statement read.
The Biden–Xi meeting followed one in Cambodia at the ASEAN Summit this past weekend. After that meeting, U.S. officials said that Chinese premier Li Keqiang had suggested that Beijing was embarrassed by Russia’s conduct of the war. “I think it is also undeniable that China is probably both surprised and a little bit embarrassed by the conduct of Russian military operations,” a senior U.S. official said based on Li’s comments at that session, according to the Wall Street Journal.
There are other indications that Beijing is trying to downplay its diplomatic support of Russia’s war effort. A Financial Times report yesterday cited an anonymous Chinese government official saying that “Putin didn’t tell Xi the truth” about his plans to invade Ukraine during the February meeting in which the two leaders announced their “no-limits” partnership. Four people told the FT that Xi had been caught off guard by the invasion, which began just a few weeks later.
Putin and Xi also met in September, with the former saying that he understands the latter’s “concerns.” Although that comment was widely interpreted as a sign that Chinese support of Russia was waning, there was no additional context to suggest that Putin’s remark in fact reflected Chinese opposition to certain Russian actions.
By contrast, the White House summary of today’s meeting and these recent reports suggest that Beijing is increasingly willing to convey its doubts about Putin’s conduct of the war. That does not itself indicate, however, that China is cutting its strategic partner loose, or even that these reported comments genuinely reflect Xi’s perspective.