White House national security communications adviser John Kirby reacted Friday to a hug shared between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Kirby offered a cool response to the interaction, claiming it was “no surprise” to him that the two are close and said, “That’s nice for them.”
“What they have in common is a desire to challenge the international rules-based order, challenge the network of alliances and partnerships that the United States enjoys, and to try to look for ways to bolster each other’s national security interests as well,” Kirby said.
This show of affection came after President Joe Biden’s comparison between the two countries. Biden claimed that Russia and China were “stalling so badly economically” as a result of being “xenophobic.”
“They don’t want immigrants. Immigrants are what makes us strong,” Biden said, per Reuters.
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Russia is over two years into its invasion of Ukraine. Since then, Russia has seen a loss of over 300,000 soldiers, which is about 80% of the force. Putin insisted during an interview with Tucker Carlson that his country still has a chance to beat Ukraine as long as the United States stops interfering.
China has ramped up aggression against Hong Kong, issuing bounties for several activists who no longer live there. Xi has long predicted the island of Taiwan will also one day reunite with mainland China.
