The White House downplays the importance of the Putin-Xi meeting

“We can control our relationship and protect our values, and we try to find ways to work with countries even when we do not agree with them,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.

At the meeting, President Xi backed demands from his Russian counterpart, Putin, to end NATO enlargement and obtain security guarantees from the West, issues that have resulted in a stalemate between Russia and the United States and its allies. related to Ukraine. Moscow, meanwhile, voiced support for Beijing’s position that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China.

The two leaders met in Beijing on Friday afternoon, according to China state television CCTV, hours before the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics, which were boycotted by diplomats from the United States, Britain and other countries for violating the human rights.

Presidents Xi and Putin, who have been criticized by the United States for their foreign and domestic policies, issued a joint statement underlining their dissatisfaction with the “interference in the internal affairs” of other countries. The joint statement proclaimed a new China-Russia strategic “friendship” that “has no borders” and is open to cooperation in all areas.

Stacie Goddard, Professor of Political Science at Wellesley College, says the announcement of the strategic alliance is intended to counter the idea that Moscow and Beijing are acting aggressively against Ukraine and Taiwan, claiming that the United States is intervening. in their spheres of influence. “She is saying that it is the United States that is trying to change the status quo,” he told prof. Goddard VOA. “They are portraying themselves as countries that are resisting the aggression of the United States.”

The conflict is escalating

Moscow’s dispute with Ukraine risks escalating into armed conflict. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had a telephone conversation Friday with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to discuss the gathering of Russian troops along the border with Ukraine.

He reaffirmed “the United States’ unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty” and made it clear that the United States was ready to “impose swift and severe consequences on Russia if it chooses to escalate the situation,” according to a State Department statement. of the State.

Mr Blinken also met with Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau in Washington on Friday for bilateral talks. At the beginning of the meeting, he stressed the importance of relations between the two countries and thanked Poland for its leading role on the east side of NATO. “We prefer Russia to choose the path of diplomacy and dialogue, but if it does not, we are fully prepared for the opposite scenario,” he said.

On Thursday, a senior Biden administration official said the United States had information that Russia had fabricated a plan to launch a fake attack on Russian territory and present it as a Ukrainian attack in order to use it as a pretext for an attack against Ukraine.

The official said Mr. Biden’s administration is making public the fact that Russia is drafting such a plan, in the hope of preventing its implementation. The United States on Wednesday announced plans to send another 2,000 troops to Europe, most of them to Poland, and to move 1,000 troops from Germany to Romania to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank countries.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday that the deployment of US troops is increasing tensions in the region. The United States and other Western allies are preparing economic sanctions against Russia in hopes of persuading Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw more than 100,000 troops from Russia near the border with Ukraine. Russia has denied any plans to invade.

Russia has demanded that NATO withdraw its troops and weapons from Eastern European member states and promise that Ukraine will never join the alliance. NATO and Ukraine have rejected these demands, saying that each country is free to choose its allies./VOA

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