Russia’s Vladimir Putin Says China’s Xi Jinping Has Raised Concerns on Ukraine War

“We understand your questions and your concerns,” he said, in remarks broadcast on Russian state television from the meeting, which took place at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Uzbekistan.

He also struck out at the U.S. for what he called provocations in Taiwan and said Moscow would adhere to its One China policy, which asserts that the People’s Republic of China is the sole legitimate government of China.

China and Russia have maintained “an effective strategic communication” since the beginning of the year, Mr. Xi said in the meeting, according to state-run Xinhua News Agency.

“In the face of historical changes in the world and times, as major countries, China is willing to work together with Russia to play a leading role and to inject stability into the turbulent world,” said Mr. Xi.

Most notable was Mr. Putin’s public admission that China has concerns about Russia’s war in Ukraine, said

Craig Singleton,

a former U.S. diplomat and a senior China fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a conservative think tank based in Washington. He noted that the Chinese government’s official readout of the meeting made no mention of Ukraine, which signaled that Beijing had no intention of increasing its support for Russia, even as Moscow’s war effort stalls.

“China is also rightly concerned that its continued support for Russia’s invasion has badly damaged both Sino-European relations as well as China’s relationships throughout Central Asia, where most countries are on record as being against Putin’s invasion,” he said.

With the world’s second-largest economy and a shared interest in countering the West, China might be Russia’s most important partner as Moscow weathers many international economic sanctions….