WASHINGTON: The Biden administration is working to build a global coalition far beyond G7 and NATO partners, the White House has said.
Some of the biggest countries like China, India, Brazil and Mexico are not part of America's economic warfare against Russia, but that does not undermine the efforts of the Biden administration against Moscow, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Monday.
"Not just China, but some of the biggest countries in the world like India or Brazil, some countries in Latin America like Mexico, they are not part of this economic warfare against Russia. Is this something that undermines the effort from the White House and European countries? "I would say it doesn't undermine our efforts.
"We have been working to build a global coalition far beyond the G7 and our NATO partners, and had a great deal of success in that. And every country has to decide where they want to stand, where they want to be as we look and the history books are written," Psaki said during her daily news conference.
"As we have seen, the impact of the president's leadership on the global stage and the economic consequences that have been put into place have led Russia and the Russian economy to be on the brink of collapse. And there's no question that over time, that will have an impact," she said in response to a question.
China is unlikely to be very helpful to Russia during these economic sanctions, Psaki said.
"I think what we are looking at here, one is if China were to decide to be an economic provider or to take additional steps there to Russia, they only make up 15 to 20 per cent of the world's economy. The G7 countries make up more than 50 per cent.
So, there are a range of tools at our disposal and coordination with our European partners should we need to use them," she said.
But this is an area that the United States is watching closely, Psaki said, asserting that there would be consequences for China if it provides military supply to Russia.
At the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department, its spokesperson Ned Price said the US was watching very closely the extent to which China or any country in the world provides materials, economic, financial, rhetorical or otherwise, to this war of choice that Russian President Vladimir Putin is waging against Ukraine and its people.
"And we have been very clear, both privately and publicly, with Beijing that there would be consequences for any such support," Price told reporters.
"Russia and China, when you combine their GDPs, it's something like 25 per cent of global GDP. When you combine the GDP, the economic might of the United States, the European Union, our allies in the Indo-Pacific, our other allies and partners that have joined us, well over 50 per cent," he said.
"So, there is not a country out there that would be able to fully extricate Moscow from this. The only thing that could relieve the pressure, that could extricate, in a meaningful way, Moscow from the morass it has created for itself, is for Putin to change course, to de-escalate and to end the violence," Price said.
Two weeks after the virtual Quad summit and amid the ongoing Ukrainian crisis, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with his Chinese counterpart in Rome and held discussions on a range of issues, including bilateral relation and Russia's war against Ukraine, the White House said.
"We do have deep concerns about China's alignment with Russia at this time, and the national security adviser was direct about those concerns and the potential implications and consequences of certain actions," a senior administration official told reporters on Monday.
The pre-planned meeting in Rome went on for seven hours.
The official described it as intense, reflecting the gravity of the moment as well as their commitment to maintaining open lines of communication.
During the meeting, Sullivan described to Yang Jiechi the unity of the US and its allies and partners, the unprecedented coordination with its European and NATO allies in particular, as well as the intense and unprecedented engagement by Asia Pacific allies in bringing the cost on Russia for its actions, the senior official said.
"They had an extensive conversation on Russia-Ukraine, with the national security adviser laying out where we are, how we got here, and what the risks are that we see lying ahead," the official said.
Additionally, they discussed crisis management and ways to manage strategic risks, following up on the discussion in November between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the importance of doing so towards the goal of managing the competition between the two countries to ensure that it does not veer into conflict.
"This meeting, of course, comes not only amid Russia's intensifying invasion in Ukraine, but also the intense work in recent months with our allies and partners in Europe and Asia," said the official.
"The president, as you know, has been coordinating closely with our Indo-Pacific partners to support the solidarity.
And of course, just less than two weeks ago, President Biden convened a secure video meeting of the Quad leaders of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States to discuss the war against Ukraine and the implications for the Indo-Pacific," the official added.
The White House is weighing the possibility of President Joe Biden travelling to Europe in the coming weeks for face-to-face talks with European leaders about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to three U.S. officials familiar with the deliberations.
The prospective trip is yet to be finalised.
One possible destination for the meetings would be Brussels, which is the headquarters for NATO, one of the officials said Monday.
Another official said the White House was looking at Biden visiting NATO headquarters on March 24, with other potential stops in Europe.
All of the officials spoke on the condition of anonymity as none was allowed to comment publicly.
Biden's potential trip would follow Vice President Kamala Harris' visit to the eastern flank NATO countries of Poland and Romania last week to discuss with leaders there the growing refugee crisis in eastern Europe sparked by the Russian invasion.
The trip would underscore the Biden administration's support for NATO allies.
NBC News first reported that the discussions for a potential Biden trip are underway.
Germany said Monday that it will replace some of its aging Tornado bomber jets with U.S.-made F-35A Lightning II aircraft capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
Announcing the decision, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said Germany also will upgrade its Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets for electronic warfare a capability that's also currently fulfilled by the Tornado jets.
The Eurofighter will be replaced from 2040 with the Future Combat Air System, or FCAS, that's being jointly developed with France and Spain, she said.
Germany's air force commander, Ingo Gerhartz, said the current war in Ukraine made it necessary to choose Lockheed Martin's F-35s.
Previously, the government had considered replacing the Luftwaffe's Tornados with a mix of different U.S. and European-made aircraft.
"There can be only one answer to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's aggression," said Gerhartz.
"Unity in NATO and a credible deterrent. This in particular means there is no alternative but to choose the F-35."
The German military does not have nuclear weapons of its own, but as part of the system of nuclear deterrence developed during the Cold War it maintained bombers capable of carrying U.S. atomic bombs, some of which are stationed in Germany.
The opposition Left Party criticised the decision to purchase almost three dozen F-35s for Germany's military.
"We reject arming the Bundeswehr with new, nuclear-capable combat jets," said Ali Al-Dailami, the party's deputy defense spokesman.
He warned that equipping German pilots to drop U.S. atomic bombs could "fuel the risk of nuclear war in Europe."
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced last month that the country would create a special fund of 100 billion euros ($113 billion) to bolster its armed forces and raise defense spending above 2% of gross domestic product, a measure on which it had long lagged behind other NATO countries on.
A planned NATO exercise with about 30,000 troops from more than 25 countries from Europe and North America began in northern Norway on Monday.
NATO said that the drill, named Cold Response that includes 200 aircraft and 50 vessels, was not linked to Russia's unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine."
The drill in NATO-member Norway, which shares a nearly 200-kilometer (124-mile) land border with Russia, will be held just a few hundred kilometers (miles- from the Russian border and was planned long before Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Russia has declined to be an observer at the exercise that aims at having Alliance members and partners practicing working together on land, in the air and at sea, said the armed forces.
The Norwegian armed forces said it provided "thorough information" to the Russians, including the Russian Ministry of Defense, saying that was "vital for preventing misunderstandings and unnecessary conflict.
The drill, which is held every other year, is due to end on April 1.