The US president said he spoke with Xi after China’s leader met Russian President Vladimir Putin during the Winter Olympics in February.
“I said: ‘If you think that Americans and others will continue to invest in China based on your violating the sanctions that have been imposed on Russia, I think you’re making a gigantic mistake. But that’s your decision to make,’” said Biden in an interview with American broadcaster CBS.
The call was “not to threaten” the Chinese president but to warn about the consequences of ignoring Western sanctions, Biden noted.
“Thus far, there’s no indication they’ve put forward weapons or other things that Russia has wanted,” Biden said of China, AL Jazeera reported.
Following the start of the Ukraine war on February 24, Putin’s relations with the West deteriorated. The West introduced unprecedented sanctions against Moscow.
Putin last week denounced those who attempted to “create a unipolar world” and expressed appreciation for Xi for “the balanced position of our Chinese friends in connection with the Ukrainian crisis”.
ZZ/PR