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WHITE HOUSE —

U.S. President Joe Biden spoke to Xi Jinping on Friday and reportedly warned the Chinese leader not to provide material support to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a day after Biden’s top diplomat acknowledged that Washington believed Beijing is willing to provide such support.

The video call – the first conversation between the two leaders since the invasion – lasted almost two hours, according to the White House. In the call Biden detailed the potential “implications and consequences” should Beijing move to provide material support to Russia.

Administration officials refused to publicly detail what those consequences might be.

“President Biden shared with President Xi a detailed review of how things have developed to this point, his assessment of the situation and President Biden underscored support for a diplomatic resolution to the crisis,” a senior administration official told reporters in a briefing following the call.

The official declined to respond to VOA’s question on whether Biden felt less or more optimistic about Beijing’s stance on Ukraine after his call with Xi.

The call was about making sure there is a “direct, candid and detailed and very substantive conversation at the leader level,” the official said.

On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed media reports from earlier this week that China may move to help Russia.

“We’re concerned that they are considering directly assisting Russia with military equipment to use in Ukraine,” Blinken said in a briefing. He did not provide evidence of the allegation, which Moscow and Beijing have denied.

Meanwhile, according to a summary of the call released by Beijing, Xi assured Biden that his country didn’t want a war in Ukraine.

“President Xi pointed out that China does not want to see the situation in Ukraine to come to this,” the statement said. “All sides need to jointly support Russia and Ukraine in having dialogue.”

Beijing had previously said that claims alleging it is supporting Moscow are designed to shift blame.

“Assertions that China knew about, acquiesced to or tacitly supported this war are purely disinformation,” Qin Gang, Chinese ambassador to the U.S., stated in an opinion piece published in The Washington Post earlier this week.

China’s official position on Moscow’s invasion has been to straddle both sides, neither fully supportive nor directly opposed. Beijing says it recognizes Ukraine’s sovereignty, while acknowledging that NATO’s expansion has raised “legitimate” security concerns for Russia.

The White House would not confirm whether the U.S. is prepared to offer anything to entice Beijing to not assist Russia, including reduction of tariffs against Chinese goods that were placed by the Trump administration.

“This is a conversation about where President Xi stands. It’s up to th

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