Beijing rejects report claiming Xi told Trump that Putin might "regret" Ukraine invasion

Beijing [China], May 19 : China on Tuesday dismissed a report asserting that President Xi Jinping suggested to his American counterpart Donald Trump that Putin might "regret" his invasion of Ukraine.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun during a press conference told a reporter, "The information you mentioned does not match the facts and is completely fabricated out of thin air."

The official denial comes in response to a major diplomatic revelation by the Financial Times, which reported that the Chinese President made these remarks to Trump during the US President's visit to Beijing last week.

According to the report, which cited people familiar with the US assessment of last week's summit in Beijing, the Chinese leader shared these unexpected views during wide-ranging discussions. These talks reportedly included the war in Ukraine and a proposal by Trump that the US, China, and Russia cooperate against the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The Financial Times highlighted that Xi's comments about Putin's decision to launch his full-scale invasion of Russia's neighbour in 2022 appeared to go further than in the past.

Underscoring this change, a source familiar with Xi's earlier meetings with former US President Joe Biden noted a sharp shift in tone. The source stated that while the two leaders had open and honest discussions about Russia and Ukraine, Xi had never directly shared his personal view on Putin or the war before.

While the discussions reportedly touched upon sensitive geopolitical fault lines, the public records remained highly curated. The Trump administration released a fact sheet on the Beijing summit on Sunday, but it contained no mention of conversations about Putin or the war in Ukraine.

Beyond the conflict, the Financial Times further claimed that Trump suggested the US, China, and Russia should cooperate against the International Criminal Court, arguing that their interests were aligned. The Trump administration has previously criticised the ICC, accusing it of political bias and overreach.

This extraordinary diplomatic exchange emerged just as Putin was preparing to visit China for talks with Xi, arriving a mere four days after Xi hosted Trump in Beijing. The timing is particularly delicate given that Russia and China had declared a "no-limits partnership" shortly before Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Furthermore, Putin's latest trip carries deep historical symbolism, marking 25 years since Russia and China signed a friendship treaty under former Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

The reported discussions happened against the backdrop of a grinding conflict that has largely reached a stalemate after more than four years of fighting. Denied rapid battlefield breakthroughs, Ukraine has increasingly relied on drone warfare to strike Russian military targets, including areas near Moscow.

Beijing's exact role in supporting Moscow continues to hover over these international summits. The previous Biden administration frequently accused China of providing dual-use items to Russia that helped it sustain its campaign against Ukraine. The current Trump administration has also raised concerns, but less frequently.

The tactical shift on the ground has drawn strong reactions from Washington lawmakers, with US Congressman Brendan Boyle remarking that Ukraine had "reinvented warfare" through the use of drones, describing it as a major shift in modern combat.

As quoted in the Financial Times report, Boyle stated, "The brave Ukrainians ... have reinvented warfare in much the same way the First World War reinvented warfare for the 21st century."

Illustrating this tactical evolution, Ukraine on Sunday conducted drone strikes against targets near Moscow that President Volodymyr Zelensky stressed were "entirely justified" after Russia last week launched a record aerial attack on Kyiv.

The conflict remains Europe's deadliest war since World War II and has severely damaged Russia's ties with Western countries. While Putin recently claimed that the war may be "coming to an end", the Kremlin has simultaneously maintained that Russia will continue military operations until its objectives are achieved.

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