U.S. Snarls, Whines About Xi-Putin Meetings, as China’s Foreign Ministry Hits Back Hard

March 22, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—The White House, the State Department, and National Security Council Communications Director John Kirby spent March 20 and 21 snarling, whining and pontificating about Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Moscow. There were many variations on one basic theme—that Xi isn’t serious about bringing peace to Ukraine, he should be honest and tell Vladimir Putin to withdraw from Ukraine if he really wants to be constructive, and, as Secretary of State Tony Blinken put it, was only in Moscow to provide political cover for Putin, who’s been discredited because of the arrest warrant issued for him by the (quite discredited) International Criminal Court.

In two separate briefings, March 20 and 21, John Kirby was quite beside himself, intent on disabusing anyone of the idea that Putin and Xi had seriously discussed a peace proposal for Ukraine. Everyone knows that Russia is the culprit, violating international law and the UN Charter, he ranted, going on to repeat the litany of Russia’s alleged crimes—bombing hospitals, launching Iranian drones into civilian infrastructure, deporting Ukrainian kids, putting them in “filtration camps,” and on and on.

If China wants to play a constructive role, he lectured, it should get Russia to cease all this and get out of Ukraine. How could Putin call Xi “impartial” and “constructive” on Ukraine? Xi “flew all the way to Moscow,” but he didn’t meet or call Zelenskyy, and just “keeps parroting the Russian propaganda that this is somehow a war of the West on Russia.” Putin is isolated, he has no friends, he’s losing in Ukraine, “blowing inventory and manpower,” suffering massive losses, Kirby insisted.

That’s why Putin “needs help from President Xi and that’s what this visit was all about,” Kirby argued. The real story is that China and Russia are moving closer together and “chafing and bristling at a rules-based order around the world. They want to change the rules of that game.”

In Beijing, at today’s Foreign Ministry press briefing, spokesman Wang Wenbin took no prisoners in responding to a question about Kirby’s claim that China is not impartial in the Ukraine crisis. Wang pointed out that “China is neither the one that created the Ukraine crisis nor a party to the crisis; still less has China provided weapons to any party to the conflict.” Since the crisis broke out, Wang emphasized, China has released its “Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis,” “making active efforts towards resolving the crisis through dialogue and negotiation. We have no selfish agenda on the Ukraine issue. We did not stand by, nor did we add fuel to the fire, or exploit the situation for selfish gain. All that we have done boils down to supporting talks for peace.”

Since the U.S. claims that China is not impartial, Wang incisively asked, “does that mean pouring weapons into the conflict should be seen as impartial? Does that mean causing the crisis to escalate should be seen as impartial? Does that mean allowing the crisis to spill over to the rest of the world should be seen as impartial?”