The top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee is asking the White House’s national security adviser for a briefing on President Joe Biden’s two-hour phone call with President Xi Jinping, as China lends at least tacit support to Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.
“I sent a letter to Jake Sullivan indicating that the intelligence committee has not received a briefing,” Rep. Michael Turner told the Washington Examiner. “Obviously it’s in our purview, and we need to be brought up to speed as to what was said to China and what China’s reactions were. … I think it’s important for the administration to tell us what the president related to Xi and what Xi said in response.”
China is attempting to present itself as a peace mediator in Russia’s war against Ukraine while amplifying Kremlin narratives justifying the war and pointing the finger at the United States. The Chinese government’s readout of the call, which took place last week, contained no criticism of Russia but claimed, “China stands for peace and opposes war.” The readout included the Chinese maxims that “it takes two hands to clap” and “he who tied the bell to the tiger must take it off.”
“The White House indicated numerous topics of national security importance were discussed, including potential consequences that the United States would take if China provides support to Russia’s unjustified war in Ukraine,” Turner told Sullivan in his brief letter. “This call contained critical information relevant to the future of U.S.-China relations and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. I hereby request a classified briefing on the details of this call.”
The Ohio Republican said China’s focus during the call on its claims over Taiwan and its insistence on blaming NATO for the war in Ukraine raise alarms.
“This attack by Russia against Ukraine is not a result of any actions that have been taken by Ukraine or by NATO,” Turner said. “It is an unprovoked attack. And Chinese misinformation in support of Russia needs to be expressly condemned, and they need to be held accountable for it.”
CHINA WON’T CONDEMN RUSSIAN INVASION
Turner said Biden should have made three things clear to his Chinese counterpart.
“One, that the world is unified behind Ukraine, and to do so would be aligning themselves with a rogue state at this point, an authoritarian regime that is attacking a democracy,” he said. “Secondly, that the democracies of the world will stand together, that we’re not going to watch while authoritarian regimes, unprovoked, attack validly elected democratic nations. And the third is that there are real consequences. It is not just an issue of our opinion — it is our collective will that the weight of the democratic nations’ support behind Ukraine would have consequences for China just as it is having consequences for Russia.”
The Chinese government’s lengthy readout said that Biden said that the U.S. “does not seek a new Cold War with China” and that Xi said the two countries should “reject the Cold War mentality.” It was heavily focused on China’s claims over the independent island nation of Taiwan.
Republican Rep. Michael McCaul, the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Monday that “empty talks will not stop the CCP’s malign actions.” His office’s press release argued that “the White House’s public description of the call misleadingly implied that China has not yet supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine” and that “Xi used the opportunity to reiterate belligerence and threats against Taiwan.”
The White House readout of the Biden-Xi call from March 18 noted that “the conversation focused on Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine” and that Biden “described the implications and consequences if China provides material support to Russia.”
The readout added that Biden “reiterated that U.S. policy on Taiwan has not changed, and emphasized that the United States continues to oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo.”
Biden was asked about the call during a press conference in Brussels on Thursday.
“I had a very straightforward conversation with Xi,” Biden said, adding, “I made it clear to him — I made no threats, but I made it clear to him that — make sure he understood the consequences of him helping Russia.
“And I made no threats, but I pointed out the number of American and foreign corporations that left Russia as a consequence of their barbaric behavior,” he added.
The president said he told Xi that China’s economic relations with the U.S. and Europe could be in “significant jeopardy” if “he were to move forward” with providing weaponry to Russia.
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“I think that China understands that its economic future is much more closely tied to the West than it is to Russia,” Biden said. “And so I’m hopeful that he does not get engaged.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said last Friday that “the vast majority of the nearly two hours was spent” with Biden outlining the views of the U.S. and its allies on Ukraine and that the president “described the implications and consequences if China provides material support to Russia.”
