In a press conference yesterday in Brussels, President Joe Biden responded to a question about China’s possible future actions, reporting that in his recent phone call with the Chinese President, he made clear—but of course with “no threats"—that Xi understood the consequences that would result were he to help Russia, “and what was expected. And I made no threats, but I pointed out the number of American and foreign corporations that left Russia,” the implication being that the same thing could happen to China should it fail to behave. No threats?
Biden said he told Xi that he knew how important it was to China to maintain good economic relations and economic growth with Europe and the U.S. and “indicated that he’d be putting himself in significant jeopardy … in those aims, if, in fact, he were to move forward” in aiding Russia. He further stated: “I think that China understands that its economic future is much more closely tied to the West than it is to Russia … I’m hopeful that he does not get engaged” with Russia.
Biden also discussed the issue of food shortages, which he warned are “going to be real.” Why? “The price of these sanctions is not just imposed upon Russia, it’s imposed upon an awful lot of countries as well, including European countries and our country as well. And—because both Russia and Ukraine have been the breadbasket of Europe in terms of wheat, for example.” Reportedly, the U.S., “the third largest wheat producer in the world,” and Canada will now step in “to increase and disseminate food more rapidly.” That’s not likely to happen anytime soon. With “Green” agriculture restrictions making it impossible for food to be produced in Europe, as many farmer protests attest to, it’s highly unlikely that efforts to get European nations to export more food abroad, when it’s not being produced at home, will get anywhere either. So, he said, “we’re in the process of working that out with our European friends, what it would take to alleviate the concerns relative to food shortages.” (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/03/24/remarks-by-president-biden-in-press-conference-7/)
