“I don’t think there’s anything inevitable about the notion that there’s going to be a conflict between the United States and the West” with China, Biden added.
But China has barely been appeased. Their government strongly condemned the G7 summit over the weekend, warning leaders not to pressure Beijing over Taiwan, economic coercion and other controversial topics.
“The Group of 7 countries talk with an arrogant tone about ‘towards a peaceful, stable, prosperous world’, but what they are doing is hindering international peace, harming regional stability. and hinder the development of other countries,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in the statement. “The Group of 7 countries ignored China’s serious concerns and insisted on manipulating China-related topics, defaming and attacking China, and grossly interfering in China’s internal affairs. Nation.”
According to US officials, China was Russia’s key ally throughout the Ukraine war, although it did not send lethal aid. In a sign that Beijing and Moscow have maintained close ties despite tensions over the war in Ukraine, China announced that a high-level special envoy, Chen Wenqing, head of the Committee on Foreign Affairs political and legal issues of the Communist Party, will travel to Russia to attend meetings on security cooperation.
Russia has had its own way of reacting to the message of solidarity for Ukraine emerging from the G7. The Russian Navy has stationed two warships and two submarines in the Black Sea, apparently hinting at a planned missile attack on Ukraine to coincide with the G7 summit, a spokesman for the Russian Navy said. The military command of southern Ukraine said on Ukrainian television.
The meeting between Mr. Biden and Mr. Zelensky was the first since the US president made it a surprise trip to Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, in February. The two reminisced on Sunday of that visit, as they marched outside to pay their respects to the fallen Ukrainians even as air raid sirens were blaring. Mr. Biden remembers following Mr. Zelensky, who appeared calm. “And I thought, ‘Well, if he doesn’t care about sirens, I don’t care about sirens either.’”
Jim Tankersley, Chris Buckley, Andrew E. Kramer and Hikari Hida contributed reporting.
