Blinken speaks to Chinese counterpart on Russian invasion of Ukraine
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday spoke to his Chinese counterpart for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine. The State Department said Blinken warned State Councilor Wang Yi that "the world is watching to see which nations stand up for the basic principles of freedom, self-determination, and sovereignty."
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"He underscored that the world is acting in unison to repudiate and respond to the Russian aggression, ensuring that Moscow will pay a high price," Ned Price, a spokesperson for Blinken, said in a statement.
China, however, continues to do business with Russia and even countries like India hold back from condemning the Kremlin's war.
Starting late last year, U.S. officials shared privately with the Chinese, just as they did publicly, that they believed Russia was preparing for a potential invasion of Ukraine, urging Beijing to use its influence with the Kremlin “to indicate to Putin that this kind of aggression would be met with a swift and severe response,” a State Department official said last week.
But China’s Foreign Ministry said earlier this week that it did not request Russia to hold off on an invasion until after the Winter Olympics. The State Department had no comment on that report.
-ABC News' Conor Finnegan