Although Trump and Xi discussed the more than four-year-long conflict – as well as the US leader’s stalemated war with Iran – the Republican president took off from China on Friday without appearing to secure a breakthrough on either front.
While China has regularly called for talks to end the fighting, it has never condemned Russia for sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and presents itself as a neutral party.
Beijing also denies providing Moscow with weapons and military components for its defence industry, blaming Western countries for prolonging Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II by arming Ukraine instead.
As the world’s top buyer of Russian fossil fuels, China has become Moscow’s key economic partner, especially since Western countries imposed economic sanctions on Russian oil and gas over the conflict.
Negotiations to end the fighting in Ukraine, brokered by the US, have appeared stalled since the beginning of the US-Israeli war with Iran which broke out on February 28.
Moscow has ruled out a ceasefire or comprehensive negotiations with Ukraine unless Kyiv caves to the Kremlin’s maximalist demands.
