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Xi Jinping told Donald Trump during their talks last week that Russian President Vladimir Putin might end up regretting his invasion of Ukraine.
According to several people familiar with the US assessment of last week’s summit in Beijing, the Chinese president made the comments during wide-ranging talks that touched on Ukraine and included Trump suggesting that the three leaders should co-operate against the International Criminal Court.
Xi’s comments about Putin’s decision to launch his full-scale invasion of Russia’s neighbour in 2022 appeared to go further than in the past. One person familiar with Xi’s meetings with former president Joe Biden said that while the leaders had held “frank and direct” conversations about Russia and Ukraine, Xi had not offered an assessment of Putin and the war.
The revelation comes as Putin prepares to arrive in China on Tuesday for a summit with Xi, four days after the Chinese leader hosted the US president for only their second meeting since Trump returned to the White House.
Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, three weeks after a trip to China in which he and Xi announced a “no-limits” partnership. His two-day visit this week comes 25 years after then-president Jiang Zemin signed a Sino-Russian friendship treaty with Putin.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment. The White House declined to comment. The Trump administration on Sunday published a factsheet about the Beijing summit, but it contained no reference to conversations about Putin or the war in Ukraine.
During his summit with Xi, Trump also suggested that the US, China and Russia should join forces to combat the ICC, saying their interests were aligned, according to the people familiar with the talks.
The White House declined to comment on the ICC comment. But the Trump administration has previously voiced strong opposition to the ICC, which it accuses of engaging in politicisation, abuse of power, disregard for US national sovereignty and illegitimate judicial over-reach. Some officials have described it as an instrument for so-called lawfare against America.
Xi’s comment about Putin came as Russia’s war on Ukraine has evolved into a stalemate after four years, particularly as Kyiv has become effective at using drone strikes to attack Russian forces and targets.
The Biden administration frequently accused China of providing dual-use items to Russia that helped it sustain its campaign against Ukraine. The Trump administration has also raised concerns but less frequently.
“The brave Ukrainians . . . have reinvented warfare in much the same way the first world war reinvented warfare for the 21st century,” said Brendan Boyle, a Philadelphia congressman and lead Democrat to the US delegation to the Nato parliamentary assembly. “Drone warfare has now become the norm and is revolutionising the way we wage war.”
Ukraine on Sunday conducted drone strikes against targets near Moscow that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed were “entirely justified” after Russia last week launched a record aerial attack on Kyiv. The strikes came after a three-day ceasefire that Trump had brokered that enabled Putin to hold his annual Victory Day parade without the risk of Ukrainian drone attacks.
