“Zelensky makes a firm promise not to attack Russian territory with F-16s.”
▲ US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China (Photo = Yonhap News)
US President Joe Biden made a statement that relations with China “will begin to thaw very soon.”
According to foreign media such as Reuters, AFP, and Bloomberg on the 21st, President Biden held a press conference after the end of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan on the same day (local time). He said that the relationship between the United States and China is expected to be thawed soon.
President Biden said, “The incident in which the United States shot down a stupid balloon carrying two truckloads of reconnaissance equipment undermined the goodwill obtained during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last November.”
At the same time, as stated in the G7 summit joint statement, “We are not trying to separate (decoupling) from China, but to eliminate risks (derisk) and diversify our relationship with China.”
Relations between the two countries deteriorated sharply after a Chinese reconnaissance balloon invaded US airspace.
On this day, President Biden said that he was considering whether to lift sanctions against Chinese Defense Minister Li Sang-fu, whom US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is planning to meet in Singapore next month.
Li was subject to US sanctions in 2018 while serving as director of the Equipment Development Department of the Central Military Commission, which is in charge of purchasing and developing weapons for the People’s Liberation Army of China.
President Biden has been optimistic about wanting to meet with President Xi Jinping and talking on the phone, but there was no mention of how quickly the dialogue between the leaders will take place, Bloomberg reported.
While the West is considering supporting F-16 fighter jets through the ‘United Nations’ to Ukraine, President Biden said at a press conference that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s “firm refusal to commit F-16s provided by the West to Russian territory” He also said he had a promise.
He added that the F-16 fighters could be used “wherever there are Russian forces in Ukraine”.