KYIV — China and the U.S. are working together on ending the war in Ukraine, but “sometimes, you have to let them fight,” President Donald Trump said after meeting Xi Jinping in South Korea Thursday.
Ukraine had high expectations from the talks, hoping Trump would persuade the Chinese leader to buy less oil from Russia and consequently stop funding the war after the U.S. slapped sanctions on Moscow’s main oil giants.
But oil was not on the table, Trump said, even though “Ukraine came up very strongly” during the meeting.
“We talked about it for a long time. And we’re both going to work together to see if we can get something done. We agreed the sides are locked in, and they are fighting and sometimes, you have to let them fight, I guess … crazy. But he’s going to help us and we’re going to work together on Ukraine,” Trump told journalists on Air Force One.
Earlier this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Trump’s meeting with Xi could be the next step toward ending the war in Ukraine. “If after the U.S. sanctions, China will be ready to reduce [Russian oil] imports … Because we already have signals from India that it will reduce imports of energy resources from Russia,” Zelenskyy said during the meeting with several journalists in Kyiv on Monday, also attended by POLITICO.
But it was not to be. “He[Xi] has been buying oil from Russia for a long time, and it takes care of a big part of China … But with him we did not discuss the oil. We discussed working together to get this war finished. It does not affect China; it does not affect us. But I don’t like to see thousands of young men killed,” Trump said.
Trump’s comments are interesting because “it’s clearly demonstrated that China considers Russia as a minor partner. They are ready to discuss about them not as an ally, not as a strategic partner … but just as just a country, a small business,” said Hanna Shelest, director of Security Programmes at Foreign Policy Council “Ukrainian Prism.”
Although China has stated it’s not profiting from Russia’s war in Ukraine, Beijing dominates coal and crude oil purchases from Moscow, accounting for 42 percent (€5.5 billion) of Russia’s export revenues from its top five importers in September, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air NGO reported earlier this month.
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