The conflict between Moscow and Kiev “came up very strongly” during his talks with Xi Jinping, the US leader has said
US President Donald has said he and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, have agreed that Washington and Beijing will “work together” on a settlement to the Ukraine conflict.
Trump made the claim aboard Air Force One as he was departing South Korea, where he held a face-to-face meeting with Xi earlier on Thursday.
“Ukraine came up very strongly. We talked about it for a long time, and we are both going to work together to see if we can get something done,” the US leader said.
Trump said that he and Xi “agree that the sides are locked in fighting and sometimes you gotta let them fight, I guess.”
“But [Xi is] going to help us, and we are going to work together on Ukraine. Not a lot more we can do,” he added.
The US president added that he had not asked his Chinese counterpart to stop buying Russian oil, despite pledging to do so ahead of the talks.
In comments made in the South Korean city of Busan, Xi suggested that Beijing and Washington should “work together to accomplish more great and concrete things for the good of their two countries and the whole world.”
“As the world today is confronted with many tough problems, China and the US can jointly shoulder their responsibility as major countries,” he said, as cited by Xinhua news agency.
The Chinese leader noted that Trump is “very enthusiastic” about settling various conflicts around the globe and stressed that China has always promoted peace talks as a way of resolving crisis situations.
Xi said in August that China’s stance on the Ukraine conflict will remain unchanged, and it will keep encouraging negotiations no matter how the situation evolves. However, he cautioned that “complex problems have no simple solutions.”
Russia and China have intensified cooperation since the Ukraine conflict escalated in February of 2022, with Beijing becoming the main buyer of Russian oil after the West imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow. The two nations now describe their relations as a strategic partnership “without limits.”
