U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet on Friday, as the White House warns Beijing that providing military or economic support to Russia's invasion of Ukraine will result in serious retaliation from Washington and elsewhere.
The conference has been in the works since Biden and Xi conducted a virtual summit in November, but the call is anticipated to center on disagreements between Washington and Beijing over Russian President Vladimir Putin's three-week-old war against Ukraine.
Biden will challenge Xi about Beijing's "rhetorical backing" for Putin and the "lack of denunciation" of Russia's ruthless invasion of Ukraine, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
Psaki stated: "This is an opportunity to judge where President Xi stands."
The long-troubled relationship between the United States and China has only become worse since Biden took office.
Biden has regularly chastised China for military provocations against Taiwan, human rights violations against ethnic minorities, and efforts in Hong Kong to silence pro-democracy activists.
Xi's government tried to distance itself from Putin's attack in Ukraine in the days following his deployment, but avoided condemning Moscow.
At other times, Beijing's actions have been confrontational, such as reinforcing Russian assertions that Ukraine was running chemical and biological weapons facilities with U.S. help.
The U.S. notified Asian and European partners earlier this week that American intelligence had assessed that China had signaled to Russia that it would be open to provide both military and financial support to help Russia avoid the impact of harsh sanctions imposed by the West.
On Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken underlined the Biden administration's concern that China is considering selling military hardware to Russia.
He said Biden will make it plain to Xi that "any steps China takes to encourage Russia's aggressiveness will be held accountable, and we will not hesitate to impose penalties."
Jake Sullivan, the White House national security advisor, and Yang Jiechi, the senior Chinese foreign policy adviser, met in Rome earlier this week for a seven-hour discussion about the Russian invasion and other matters.
Prior to the Rome discussions, Sullivan stated that the U.S. will not tolerate China or any other country assisting Russia in evading the economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and its allies since the Feb. 24 incursion.
Sullivan said the U.S. found that China knew Putin "was planning something" before the invasion of Ukraine.
