A senior White House official on Monday said Washington has been urging President Xi Jinping to meet his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
What Happened: The U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, in a press briefing aboard Air Force One, said, “We believe that [the People’s Republic of China] and President Xi himself should hear directly the Ukrainian perspective and not just the Russian perspective on this.”
On Monday, media reports indicated that the Chinese president could meet his Russian counterpart to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine as soon as next week.
Sullivan added, “we have spoken to our Ukrainian counterparts today – I saw the news accounts – they have not yet actually gotten any confirmation that there will be a telephone call or a video conference.”
“We hope that there will be. That would be a good thing because it would potentially bring more balance and perspective to the way the PRC is approaching this, and we hope it would continue to dissuade them from providing lethal assistance to Russia.”
The Chinese leader's visit to Moscow comes as Beijing, last month, offered a 12-point proposal to end the war in Kyiv, suggesting a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia and a gradual de-escalation of the situation that will pave the way to end the war. While Russia said the proposal aligns with its ideology, Ukraine appeared lukewarm.
“I believe that the fact that China started talking about Ukraine is not bad,” Zelenskyy said at the time of the release of the proposal, adding that “But the question is what follows the words."
Meanwhile, Sullivan said President Joe Biden has also indicated his "willingness" to speak with President Xi.
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