Biden-Xi talks on Ukraine disappoint

It is difficult to muster optimism when the two most powerful nations in the world cannot act in concert to halt a war. Both the United States and China insist, of course, that they want peace in Ukraine. Yet, even the gravity presented by a bloody war - being witnessed in real time by millions on TV and mobile screens across the globe - has not been enough of a spur. Washington and Beijing have not succeeded by being on the same side in order to prevail on the world's third great power, Russia, to order a halt to its so-called "military operation" in Ukraine. Given China's recently inked "no limits" partnership with Russia, President Xi Jinping could have Russian President Vladimir Putin's ear. But in Beijing's view, it is Nato's eastward expansion that precipitated the "crisis" - its term for Russia's invasion of Ukraine. China, therefore, justifies its somewhat irreconcilable position of not opposing the invasion even while it offers support for Ukraine.

In his two-hour meeting last Friday with his US counterpart Joe Biden, Mr Xi said Nato must hold a dialogue with Russia to assuage its concerns over the US-led security bloc's expansion. China also warned that "sweeping and indiscriminate" sanctions enacted against Russia could trigger serious crises in the global economy. Mr Biden, who called the invasion unprovoked and premeditated, is said to have threatened unspecified consequences if China provides military aid to Russia, which has seen its advance stall in the face of a determined Ukrainian resistance. It is a sad commentary that the world's most important bilateral relationship, undergirded by trade and investment worth billions, appears to be of little consequence during a war. The stressed bilateral ties are also setting off concerns in Asia, adding volatility to the flash points in the Taiwan Strait and disputed tracts of the South China Sea.