China, US Must Cooperate For Peace, Xi Tells Biden

President Xi Jinping told US leader Joe Biden that the two nations must work together for world peace and tranquility, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

The two leaders spoke on Friday evening for the first time since November, in a video call requested by the White House to discuss the situation in Ukraine.

"The top priorities now are to continue dialogue and negotiations, avoid civilian casualties, prevent a humanitarian crisis, cease fighting and end the war as soon as possible," the ministry quoted Xi as saying.

The ministry said Xi had urged Biden to hold talks between the US, Nato and Russia on what it described as the "crux" of the Ukraine conflict: the security concerns of both Moscow and Kyiv.

"The Ukraine crisis is not something we want to see," Xi told Biden, according to a report by the Xinhua news agency.

"As permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and the world's two leading economies, we must not only guide the China-US relations forward along the right track, but also shoulder our share of international responsibilities and work for world peace and tranquility," Xi reportedly said.

He warned against "sweeping and indiscriminate" sanctions that would "only make the people suffer", according to the Foreign Ministry.

The Foreign Ministry statement said the call also covered relations between Beijing and Washington. It said the direct reason for the current situation between the two sides was that some unnamed American officials had "not followed through on the important common understanding reached by the two presidents".

Speaking ahead of the call, US officials said Biden would caution Xi against providing assistance to Russia. Beijing has denied US reports that it is considering directly aiding Moscow.

The White House said Biden had "described the implications and consequences if China provides material support to Russia as it conducts brutal attacks against Ukrainian cities and civilians".

Biden also "underscored his support for a diplomatic resolution" to the situation in Ukraine, the White House readout said.

The meeting lasted just under two hours.

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