Kirby on Peace in Ukraine, Xi's Visit to Russia, TikTok Hearing
President Xi's trip to Moscow. Now that he's back home in China, the Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a congressional hearing, I know we're all obsessed with TikTok, but he was talking on Capitol Hill as well. The goal he said is to deter China from, quote, an ill-advised decision. Do we have any evidence, any suggestion that China, in fact, discussed or agreed to provide lethal weaponry to Russia? All we can really judge is by what these two leaders said when the meetings were over. We saw nothing in those statements and seen no indication yet that China has made any kind of a decision to provide lethal weapons. And of course, we've said before we don't think that's in China's best interest. It certainly would not be consistent with the kinds of things that President Xi has said before publicly about the war in Ukraine.
So we're going to keep watching this as closely as we can, but no signs yet. We obviously know, Admiral Kirby, that the United States has criticized China's, quote, peace plan. But how concerned are you that Xi Jinping, off the heels of his trip to Moscow, off the heels of him brokering a deal between Tehran and Riyadh, that at some point he's going to get some of these vulnerable economies around the world who want to sign up to his version of events? I think China is struggling mightily in certain parts of the world to convince people that they really are acting in others' best interests. In fact, many countries in Africa are realizing as these loans come due what kind of financial straits, poor financial straits they're in with respect to China and taking these very high-interest loans. So I think those bills are coming due, and China's real interests around the world are becoming more transparent by everybody. Now, look, if there can be a peace brokered in Ukraine, then that's a good thing, as long as President Zelensky is supportive of it. As long as his views have been heard, his perspectives have been respected, and that he is a part and parcel of that effort.
President Biden has said many times nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine. And so in the meantime, until he is ready to sit down and negotiate with President Putin, we got to make sure that he's also ready on the battlefield. Will Xi call Zelensky? That's up to President Xi. We would certainly encourage that. We have made it clear that we would like to see President Xi reach out to President Zelensky. Again, we believe he needs to hear the Ukrainian perspective. He needs to hear directly from President Zelensky, because otherwise anything that he would call for in terms of a ceasefire or peace proposal won't be credible.
It won't be sustainable if Ukrainian perspectives are not factored into that, and if you don't have support from President Zelensky. So if you're going to fly all the way to Moscow, terrific. You ought to at least pick up the phone and talk to President Zelensky and get his views. Does it mean for a potential meeting or conversation with President Biden and President Xi Admiral? Is that off the table now? President Biden has made it clear that he wants to have another conversation with President Xi. There's nothing on the schedule right now, but I can assure you that another conversation will happen. It'll happen at the most appropriate time. We don't have anything again to announce today.
But the president believes that it is vitally important in this most consequential of bilateral relationships that the lines of communication stay open. And we're going to continue to work on multiple ways to do that. For instance, we're still going to work to get Secretary Blinken back to Beijing. That trip was postponed. It wasn't canceled. And in conversations with the PRC and at their invitation, we are now looking at plans to have Secretary Yellen and Secretary Raimondo go over to China to discuss economic issues. So that's all good.
And we want to keep those lines of communication open. And that would include certainly a conversation between President Xi and President Putin. We're hearing continuous references to the axis here, Russia and China. How does the administration look at this alliance? Is this East versus West now? I think, first of all, calling this an alliance is a bit of a stretch. I've referred to it as a marriage of convenience, certainly not one of affection. President Xi sees in President Putin a useful foil and a counterweight to American influence, particularly in Europe. President Putin sees in President Xi perhaps a bank role and an opportunity to get more assistance so that he can continue to prop up his economy and to fight this war.
They're working together because they believe that they need each other for very discrete, not necessarily completely overlapping goals. We're not looking here for a world divided by blocks. But I think one thing you need to consider as you consider this visit to Moscow by President Xi is that it's also a manifestation of how much China and Russia know that American leadership on the world stage is back and how much they recognize that our network of alliances and partnerships is stronger than any network they might have. These are two countries with not a lot of friends and that those in that network is getting stronger and more influential around the world. Look at NATO, for instance, how much more relevant and viable NATO is. And now it's going to grow by another two nations. All that's a manifestation of the leadership of this administration and the proof that American leadership on the world stage is in fact increasing.
Admiral Kirby, today in Washington the focus has really been on this hearing with the TikTok CEO. And just before he went into Congress we heard from China's Ministry of Commerce and they're saying that they would be against any sale of TikTok. Does this social media app now become the latest salvo between Washington and Beijing? It doesn't need to be that way and I won't get ahead of an ongoing review by the Committee on Foreign Investment here in the United States of TikTok. What I can tell you is we have legitimate national security concerns over this particular app. That's why President Biden has banned it from government devices. But in terms of other decisions made, I've seen some press reporting out there. I just can't get ahead of where we are in this review.
We have legitimate national security concerns over the way this app uses data, the way it intrudes on privacy and those concerns have not gone away. We can move on because we want to ask you about Ukraine as well and the effort to get Abrams tanks to the battlefield sooner than later, knowing that this spring offensive is about to unlock. What's the timeline? The Pentagon has now come up with an alternate proposal here to use a different version of the Abrams tank that they have more in stock. Get them refurbished and get them to Ukraine and they believe they can do that in about 10 months from now, so probably by the fall of this year, which obviously won't be in time for spring operations as the weather improves, but it will certainly make a difference on the battlefield come fall. And in the meantime, don't forget that many European nations are now providing their tanks as well, including the very capable Leopard tanks that Germany produces, which will make a big difference. Not to mention the more than 500 other armored vehicles that the United States alone has been providing and will continue to provide Ukraine, whether that's striker infantry vehicles, Bradley fighting vehicles, as well as up armored Humvees. So there's a lot of armor capability going into Ukraine.
Admiral Kirby, we know your wheels up soon to go to Ottawa. What are you hoping from the national security perspective in terms of engagement with the Canadians? There's an awful lot on the agenda, very, very full agenda, everything from source, of course, nor add modernization and defense spending to climate change, which affects both our countries very, very deeply. Certainly issues of migration will come up. There'll be trade issues to talk about. I could go on and on. It's going to be a packed day in Ottawa tomorrow. The president's very much looking forward to this.
Canada is a great friend and a terrific NATO ally. They have also been providing a terrific amount of support to Ukraine. And I know that Prime Minister Trudeau shares President Biden's view that we've got to stay at this. We've got to keep supporting Ukraine. So I think certainly the war in Ukraine will also be a key topic on the agenda.
Bloomberg