25 Feb 2023

'Not rational' for China to negotiate outcome of Ukraine war - Biden

2:21 pm on 25 February 2023
This combination of file pictures created on June 08, 2021, shows US President Joe Biden (L) speaking at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC on June 2, 2021; and Chinese President Xi Jinping speaking on arrival at Macau's international airport on December 18, 2019.

US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping (file image). Photo: AFP

"(Russian President Vladimir) Putin's applauding it, so how could it be any good?" Biden told ABC News on the one-year anniversary of the war.

"I've seen nothing in the plan that would indicate that there is something that would be beneficial to anyone other than Russia, if the Chinese plan were followed."

"The idea that China is going to be negotiating the outcome of a war that's a totally unjust war for Ukraine is just not rational."

China's plan urges both sides to agree to a gradual de-escalation and warns against the use of nuclear weapons.

The plan, set out in a foreign ministry paper, was largely a reiteration of China's line since Russia launched what it calls its "special military operation" on 24 February last year.

Biden also repeated comments that he would not be sending F-16s to Ukraine for now, saying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not need the fighter jets for the moment.

"He doesn't need F-16s now," Biden said. "I am ruling it out for now."

- Reuters

Get the RNZ app

for ad-free news and current affairs