The Russian leader said Moscow condemns the “provocation by the United States and its allies in the Taiwan Strait,” encouraging words for Xi who seeks to “reunify” Taiwan with mainland China. China has never publicly supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, nor has it condemned it. But Xi and Putin said they had a friendship without boundaries when they last met in Beijing shortly before the invasion. Beijing has since criticized the West for imposing devastating economic sanctions on Russia. Chinese companies, however, have been particularly careful in their dealings with Russia so as not to face sanctions for violating the sanctions. China watchers noted that Mr. Xi despite the Russian leader’s remarks was careful not to publicly cross Mr. Putin on the war in Ukraine. “Xi had to calibrate his comments and show that he is the master of the fence: He was not critical and did not say anything negative in public,” Alexander Gabuev, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the Telegraph. The Putin-Xi meeting was part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization leaders’ summit that brought together powerful leaders such as Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, and Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister. As Moscow sought support from Beijing, Washington was poised to announce a $600m (£523m) arms package for Kyiv on Thursday night. White House sources said it would include more high-precision missiles as well as howitzer ammunition. It adds to $15.1 billion in security assistance already delivered by the United States.
