Donald Trump Calls Xi Jinping Comments to Putin a 'Low Point' for U.S.

Newsweek 3/23/2023 Ewan Palmer

In this combination photo, Donald Trump (L) pictured on March 4th, 2023, Chinese President Xi Jinping (M) pictured in Moscow on March 21, 2023 and Vladimir Putin (R) delivers a speech before an awarding ceremony celebrating Women's Day in Moscow on March 8, 2023.

© Alex Wong/ MIKHAIL METZEL/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images In this combination photo, Donald Trump (L) pictured on March 4th, 2023, Chinese President Xi Jinping (M) pictured in Moscow on March 21, 2023 and Vladimir Putin (R) delivers a speech before an awarding ceremony celebrating Women's Day in Moscow on March 8, 2023.

Donald Trump has reacted to footage of China's President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussing the power of the two countries' relationship as the pair were leaving talks in Moscow.

In a clip posted on social media on Tuesday, Xi and Putin were seen shaking hands while discussing a once-in-a-century geopolitical power shift.

"Right now there are changes—the likes of which we haven't seen for 100 years—and we are the ones driving these changes together," Xi told Putin as the pair shook hands while saying goodbye to each other at the Kremlin. Putin responded: "I agree."

Russia and China had earlier signed an agreement to bring in a "new era" of cooperation as the two leaders called for "responsible dialogue" to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

In a post on Truth Social reacting to the clip, Trump said: "President Xi's statement to President Putin, caught on hot mic, was maybe a low point, in history, for the USA!"

The U.S. has frequently accused China of siding with Russia amid the Ukraine invasion, with the Kremlin reported to have asked the Asian powerhouse for financial and military assistance when the war broke out last February, which both countries denied.

Shortly after the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the U.S. has seen that Beijing has "very clearly take a side in this war" amid speculation China is contemplating sending arms to Russia.

Michael Swaine, senior research fellow on East Asia from the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, suggested that Western criticism of China's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine seems to have pushed Moscow and Beijing "closer together."

"It is entirely unrealistic to expect Beijing to come out in full opposition to its only significant strategic partner in countering what it sees as a full-blown U.S. campaign to contain and weaken China and overthrow the Chinese Communist Party," Swaine told Newsweek.

Trump has frequently attacked the U.S. response to the Russian invasion, and repeatedly claimed he could end the war "within 24 hours" without revealing how.

The former president recently told Fox News' Sean Hannity that part of his suggested peace plan would be to allow Russia to "take over" parts of Ukraine while noting how Putin never invaded the country while he was in the White House.

"That's without even negotiating a deal. I could have negotiated. At worst, I could've made a deal to take over something, there are certain areas that are Russian-speaking areas, frankly, but you could've worked a deal," Trump told Hannity in a radio interview.