white house —
The White House is rejecting Beijing’s proposal for a cease-fire in Ukraine, ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow next week, saying it would ratify Russia’s territorial gains in Ukraine.
However, officials say the administration “fully supports” Xi talking to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy so that China may consider Kyiv’s perspective. Zelenskyy is scheduled to hold a phone call following the Chinese leader’s meeting with Putin.
John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, spoke Friday with VOA Chinese Service White House correspondent Paris Huang. He said the U.S. still hasn’t seen evidence that China has provided lethal weaponry to Russia. He said the U.S. will deliver more assistance to Ukraine in the coming days.
Kirby also spoke of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s upcoming trip to the U.S., to which Beijing has objected.
This transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
The International Criminal Court, the ICC judges, just issued an arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova for the deportation of children. What does this mean for U.S. policies toward Putin? Does that mean President Joe Biden will not be meeting Putin in future?
Look, this is just breaking news. We're going to have to take a look at this before we can make any kind of official comment. Separate and distinct from that, President Biden has been clear, we want to make sure that Russia is held accountable for the atrocities, for the war crimes, for the crimes against humanity that they are perpetrating inside Ukraine and against the Ukrainian people. We're going to continue to help international bodies as they collect evidence and begin to analyze that evidence going forward. But I won't go any further than that right now.
China's President Xi Jinping is going to Moscow to meet with Putin next week. Do you think Xi Jinping's words carry weight in Putin's mind? Any concern about this meeting?
We know that China and Russia have been improving and increasing their relationship in many different ways, both sides have been. I can't speak for the kind of influence that Mr. Xi might have over Mr. Putin. We'll just have to see what it is they decide to talk about. What we are concerned about is that President Xi hasn't talked to President Zelenskyy and we believe it's important that he do that as well - that he doesn't just get the Russian perspective here on this war, but that he gets President Zelenskyy’s perspective. And I would also say, while we're at this, we've seen in the China 12-point so-called peace proposal, they talk about a cease-fire. And we'd be concerned if coming out of this meeting there was some sort of a call for a cease-fire, because right now, while a cease-fire sounds good, it actually ratifies Russia's gains on the ground. It actually serves Russia's purpose for a cease-fire to basically call a stop right now without any acknowledgement that Russia is illegally inside Ukraine.
What is your response to the assessment that if there's a cease-fire that can temporarily put aside the question of territorial boundaries, that that kind of cease-fire might be what is feasible?
That doesn't serve Ukraine's interests. Doesn't serve the world's interests. It doesn't serve the U.N. Charter's interest. It would be a violation of the U.N. Charter. Look in the first line of the Chinese proposal - it says that they want to see sovereignty respected. Well, you know what? We agree with that, everybody should agree with that, and if you want to see sovereignty respected, then that means you don't call a cease-fire right now which ratifies Russia's gains and their conquest and leaves it at that, at the expense of the Ukrainian people.
What is the administration and NATO's proposal that may be coming forward for lowering tensions? And on that note, can you give us the administration's current thinking of the discussion of the Germany, France and U.K. defense pact for Ukrainians to encourage peace talks with Moscow?
We all want to see this war end, and it could end today if Mr. Putin would pull his troops out. That's not going to happen, so I think we all envision the possibility that there could be some sort of negotiated settlement. I won't speak for other countries and what their sovereign approach to this is. For the United States perspective, it's nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine - no negotiation, no settlement discussion can or should take place without Ukraine being squarely in the middle of it, and President Zelenskyy’s perspective fully and completely understood and respected. That's where we are.