Chinese President Xi Jinping privately told US President Donald Trump during talks last week that Russian President Vladimir Putin may one day “regret” invading Ukraine, according to a news report.
Trump had also suggested that the US, China and Russia should co-operate against the International Criminal Court (ICC) because their interests were aligned, Financial Times reported.
Xi's alleged comments are significant because China has publicly maintained close ties with Russia since the war began and has avoided openly criticising Putin.
One person familiar with Xi's earlier meetings with former US President Joe Biden told the FT that previous discussions on Ukraine had been “frank and direct,” but the Chinese president had never before shared a personal assessment of Putin or the invasion.
Both Beijing and Washington denied the claims in the report. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson called the report “completely false.” Trump also rejected the claim as he told the reporters on Tuesday: “No, he never said that.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also dismissed the report and said: “The Chinese have already refuted this.”
The White House later released a factsheet about the Beijing summit but it did not mention any discussion involving Putin or the Ukraine war. The White House also declined to comment on the reported ICC conversation.
The Trump administration has repeatedly criticised the ICC in the past as it accuses the institution of politicisation, abuse of power and interference in US sovereignty. Some American officials have also described the court as a tool used for “lawfare” against the United States.
Putin is expected to arrive in China on Tuesday for another summit with Xi. The Russian leader's visit also coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Sino-Russian friendship treaty signed by former Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Putin.
Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, just weeks after Putin's visit to Beijing where he and Xi announced a “no-limits” partnership between their countries.
The Biden administration had often alleged that China was helping Russia indirectly by supplying products that could be used for both civilian and military purposes in the Ukraine war. The Trump administration too expressed concern over the issue though not as aggressively.
The war in Ukraine has now entered its fourth year. Ukraine has increasingly relied on drone attacks against Russian military targets. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday defended fresh drone strikes near Moscow as “entirely justified” after Russia carried out a major aerial attack on Kyiv.
