Kirby: China and Russia Are ‘Cozying Up’ in Public and We’ll ‘Have to See’ if China Will Be ‘a More Responsible Power’

On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “The Story,” White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby reacted to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi saying that the country is willing to bolster its ties to Russia by stating that the two countries are “cozying up to each other, at least in the public space.” But the two countries “don’t have a long history of working well together. And so, we’re going to have to see how this plays out.” And China will have to decide if it is “going to be willing to be a more responsible power in the region and across the globe.” Kirby also stated that China’s actions in Taiwan are not the “actions of a responsible power.”

Kirby stated, [relevant exchange begins around 5:40] “We have long been hearing China and Russia sort of cozying up to each other, at least in the public space. But we need to remember that these are two countries that are not strategically aligned on every issue. They don’t have a long history of working well together. And so, we’re going to have to see how this plays out. It’s certainly, we don’t believe, in China’s interest to sidle up to Russia when Russia has now been — now in their almost sixth month here of an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and a Russia who is further and further isolated from the international community. But China has a choice to make. I mean, they’re going to have to choose whether that’s who they want to be aligned with, that’s the direction they want this to go or are they going to be willing to be a more responsible power in the region and across the globe.”

Host Gillian Turner then asked, “Have you seen any indications that they’re willing to be a more, I think you said responsible actor, going forward.”

Kirby responded, “I would say based on what we’re seeing, Gillian, just in the last few days, clearly, what they’re doing we don’t find to be the actions of a responsible power. And that we’ve been nothing but clear about urging them to deescalate the tensions, stop these exercises, stop the bellicose rhetoric that are doing nothing to contribute to peace and security not only in and around Taiwan, but in the western Pacific writ large.”

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