China isn't interested in escalating war in Ukraine - Bryza

He expressed this opinion on the Studio West with Antin Borkovskyi program on Espreso TV.

"The point of the meeting in San Francisco is to try to find a way to continue de-escalating the high level of tension in US-China relations. We all recall the Speaker of House Nancy Pelosi visiting Taiwan last year. It was a visit that Biden did not want to have happen, but he didn't tell her not to do it. I mean he couldn't forbid her to go because of the separation of power in the United States, but he could have pressured her politically but instead he let her go. And that created in my opinion unnecessary additional attention in US-Chinese relations," said the former US Assistant Secretary of State.

According to him, since then, there have been a number of visits by US ministers to China, trying to find ways in which the US and China can not only reduce political tensions but also cooperate on certain issues, such as climate change. Therefore, during the meeting between Xi Jinping and Biden, there will be some discussions on climate change. They will also talk about how to mitigate the effects of the US-China trade war.

"President Biden will look for ways to persuade China to reduce its support for Russia's war on Ukraine, and will probably stress that a redline for the United States is the provision of weapons by China to Russia. China hasn't done that. China clearly does not want Russia to escalate the war. China is looking at the war in Ukraine the way to counter US influence in the world and strengthen China's influence. But China doesn't have an interest in the war in Ukraine intensifying or in Ukraine losing. Ukraine is also an important trading partner for China," said Matthew Bryza.

In his opinion, the meeting will also focus on Taiwan, which, like Ukraine, will be an important part of this discussion. It is likely that President Biden will remind President Xi that in the event of a Chinese attack on Taiwan, we will be able to see the desperate struggle and high morale of the Taiwanese, following the example of Ukraine after the Russian army invaded its territory.

"So this meeting is a combination of wanting to reduce tension, and wanting to cooperate with each other as well. But then Biden clearly would deter Xi Jinping from providing Russia weapons or from attacking Taiwan," Bryza concluded.

• On October 27, US President Joe Biden met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and stressed the need to cooperate to solve global problems.
• Chinese President Xi Jinping said that the fate of humanity depends on whether China and the United States can find understanding with each other. The Chinese leader expressed hope that the National Committee on US-China Relations would continue to support " China-US relations and play a constructive role in promoting the healthy and stable development of relations between the two countries".
• On October 28, Reuters reported that the United States and China had agreed to jointly organise a meeting between leaders Joe Biden and Xi Jinping.
• Diplomat Volodymyr Ohryzko believes that Joe Biden and Xi Jinping can agree on a new form of peaceful coexistence, which includes pressure on Russia.
• US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are scheduled to hold bilateral talks in San Francisco on November 15.