What stronger ties between China and Russia would mean for the war in Ukraine

And let's bring in former US ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor for more on this. Ambassador, thank you for being on. China's top diplomat held these high-level meetings in Moscow with Kremlin officials and with Putin himself. And he says that China is ready to strengthen ties with Russia. How concerning is that for the US? So, Diane, China is in a difficult position. China has not been willing to provide the kind of support to Russia that the Russians have expected. The Russians expected this partnership without limits, as they talked about beforehand.

But before the invasion, before February 24th, when President Putin was in Beijing talking to President Xi, he talked about a partnership without limits. But President Putin didn't even tell President Xi that he was about to invade Ukraine. China has never supported invasions. China supports, they say, and to some reason, to believe that they support sovereignty of nations. They support territorial integrity of nations. That's the opposite of what Putin has done to Ukraine. So, the Chinese have not provided the weapons or the military support.

Now, there is some intelligence that indicates that there may be thinking about it. And what the Secretary of State, what Tony Blinken did, was out them and tell them, you know, we know you're thinking about providing these weapons. If you do, it will be a mistake. They will subject themselves to sanctions from the United States and Europe. They're two biggest markets, Diane. So, the Chinese are in a difficult position when they're trying to think how they can have it both ways. They provide some rhetorical support for the Russians, but realizing that their economic interests are with Europe and the United States.

And Ambassador, in David Muir's exclusive interview with President Biden, he's calling Putin's temporary suspension of this nuclear arms treaty a big mistake. How concerned should we be about that? So far, we should not be overly concerned. What President Putin has done is stopped the inspections. So, the New START Treaty allows both sides to inspect to be sure that the caps, the limits on the numbers of warheads are being respected. And so far, those limits are being respected on both sides. So, there's no indication that either side is preparing or preparing to increase those weapons to violate the caps in the New START Treaty. So, the only thing that's stopped is the inspections.

That's a problem, and that should come back into force. President's right that Russians should come back into compliance, allow those inspections to allow us to be sure that they're abiding by these numbers. But we have other ways to check to see if they are violating the caps. So far, they're not. So, overall, this is not a major change or a major concern at this point. Alright, from our U.S.

Ambassador to Ukraine, Bill Taylor, we appreciate it. Thank you.

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