The United States is concerned about the deepening relationship between China and Russia, said the US State Department after Chinese President Xi Jinping met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Uzbekistan on Thursday (Sep 15).
It was their first face-to-face meeting since the start of the Ukraine war, with Xi calling Putin “my old friend” and Putin addressing Xi as a “dear friend”.
Putin said on Thursday he understood that Xi had questions and concerns about the situation in Ukraine, but praised the Chinese leader for a “balanced” position on the conflict.
In a press briefing on Thursday, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the relationship between China and Russia has not deepened over the course of “days, weeks or months”, but over the course of years.
“Of course, we’ve seen this relationship move even more closely together. We have made very clear our concern about this deepening relationship and the concern that every country around the world should have about this relationship,” he said.
While it was “not surprising” that Russia and China are coming together, Price said what was “striking” was Putin’s admission about Xi’s concerns regarding the Ukraine war.
“It’s not surprising that (China) apparently has such concerns. It is somewhat curious that President Putin would be the one to admit it so openly,” he added.
“I say it’s not surprising because what – we’ve seen (China) resort to verbal and in many ways geopolitical gymnastics over recent months, trying to avoid criticising Russia’s war against Ukraine, at least trying to avoid criticising it openly.”