first of all, what do you make of president zelensky�*s plans to meet president xijinping.t could be zelensky�*s plans to meet president xi jinping. what could be achieved? i think it's a shrewd political move that may not actually take place. what president zelensky is doing is essentially playing on the fact that the foreign affairs council of china visited moscow recently but didn't actually come through kyiv, whether he was invited is not entirely clear. what zelensky are saying is not protesting about the fact that russia and china are working closely together, but actually essentially calling china out on its official position. he is saying, essentially, if china is neutral, china's objective, if china wants to encourage a dialogue then that works well but then ukraine has to be part of it. i think by suggesting he would have a meeting with xi jinping he is essentially putting his own front foot forward in a positive way by saying that he wants to take part in whatever dialogue china is willing to sponsor. now, of course, it will be up to china to decide whether they

xijinping and vladimir putin have made this promise that they have this �*no limits�* friendship.ch as far as china being honest with russia and saying, listen, half the world against you here, more than half the world's against you here? well, there are a lot of things to say about that. first of all, more than half the world is actually sitting this war out. if you count india, africa, latin america, most countries are actually trying not to get involved in this fight between the west and russia, as they see it. but, yes, to your broader point, i think that, clearly, china is trying to say we don't want an all—out fight that would lead to years of warfare, an escalation beyond ukraine, an overthrow of the ukrainian government, further threats of nuclear weapons usage. china's basically saying, "no, no, no" to all of that. and i think china's instincts are correct. 0ur international editor jeremy bowen has reported on the conflict from the very beginning. he's kept in touch with many of the ukrainians he's spoken to along the way, and he's been back to meet some of them to get th

he also, xijinping, puts great emphasis on being received as a respectable leader by the rest of the why he fights us tooth and nail when we try to, you know, introduce a resolution on xinjiang at the united nations human rights council. he cares desperately about not being stigmatised, about not being shamed, because that's such a central part of his legitimacy. he wants to say to the people in china, "look, everybody else thinks i'm a legitimate leader, you should accept me, too." and indeed, more and more, the world is not accepting his mass atrocities at home. and so that is what we're trying to highlight and we're not nice about it. we spotlight that every chance we can. one thing that i want to discuss with you, which i've never had a chance before, is what emerged in 2020 as your decision, i think back in 2012, to take money from a very wealthy saudi businessman who was prepared to sponsor some of the human rights watch work in saudi arabia, but only on the understanding that you didn't dig into saudi treatment of lgbtq issues in that country. you took, i think, over $160,000

ukraine's president zelensky has said he plans to meet china's leader, xijinping, to discuss beijing'sending the war in ukraine. he made the comments in a question and answer session in kyiv, to mark the first anniversary of the russian invasion. translation: first of all, i am planning to meet - with xijinping and i think it will be beneficial for our countries and for the world's security. together with china we have large trade. this is not only about war. we are our countries interested in keeping our economic relationships. one of vladimir putin's closest allies, president lukashenko of belarus, is to visit china on tuesday as beijing tries to present itself as a peacemaker in ukraine. joining me now is asia pacific editor for the bbc world service, michael bristow. let's start with that news that the belarusian leader will make a state visit to china next week. what belarusian leader will make a state visit to china next week.— visit to china next week. what are we to make _ visit to china next week. what are we to make of _ visit to china next week. what are we to make of this?

but xijinping did not wake up and decide that taiwan was important to china.ents to building military capabilities he now has at his disposal. so, the chinese government and in some cases even the chinese people see taiwan as a part of china and don't want to wait and understand that peaceful reunification is not possible, and for those reasons i think it is possible that china would try to attack taiwan and the only reason that xi jinping might be cautious in doing so is if he feels like a victory could not be easy and quick, and that is where the united states and its allies and partners could come in if they decided to make significant changes to theirforce decided to make significant changes to their force posture in the region. i changes to their force posture in the region.— in the region. i want to pick u . in the region. i want to pick up firstly — in the region. i want to pick up firstly on _ in the region. i want to pick up firstly on the _ in the region. i want to pick up firstly on the first - in the region. i want to pick up firstly on the first p

after discussions with president xijinping and with india it has been pretty much ruled out.alation would look like? i don't think there is a proper answer to that. the escalation is that russia will go and attack nato countries? excuse me, they are failing and ukraine right now. they don't have potency for that definitely. so the question again that we need to reform the ideas about you mentioned is, what would happen if ukraine fails? because i have an answer to that. right now it is not only russia who is watching on the world's response. nato already committed to supporting ukraine in is already battlefield between putin and the whole western world who is supporting ukraine. so if we fail, it would mean that tyranny wins. that the whole forces of nato is not enough to combat russia. then i can name you many tyrants who will raise their hands and say, great, thank you so much for this fantastic example. now we know how we should act. we should get a nuclear weapon and then we should take over our neighbours�* land and we know that we will get away with it. this is not the

ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky has said he plans to meet china's leader xijinping to discussng the war in ukraine. translation: first of all, i'm planning to meet - with xijinping, and i think it will be beneficial for our countries and for the world security. together with china, we have large trade. this is not only about war, we are countries interested in keeping our economic relationships. rallies have been held across the world in support of ukraine. one has taken place in berlin at the brandenburg gate . our correspondent jenny hill was there. here in the centre of berlin, a symbol of the brutality of this war. behind me, you can see a tank which has been brought here by demonstrators. they say it came from just outside of bucha and they've positioned it right outside the russian embassy. its gun is pointing at the front door. there's a very sombre atmosphere here — people coming, standing, very quietly staring at the tank, taking pictures on their phones, of course, but also having their own quiet moments of reflections. a little earlier, i saw a woman, her hands clas

ukraine's president zelensky has said he plans to meet china's leader, xijinping, to discuss beijing'sn ukraine. he made the comments in a question and answer session in kyiv, to mark the first anniversary of the russian invasion. translation: first of all, i am planning to meet - with xijinping and i think it will be beneficial for our countries and for the world's security. together with china we have large trade. this is not only about war. we are our countries interested in keeping our economic relationships. at a meeting of the united nations security council to discuss the situation in ukraine, china's spokesperson stressed that his country was ready to help find what he described as a political settlement. translation: first of all, i am planning to meet - the row to peaceful not the smooth. but we must not give up our efforts for peace. in terms of the ukraine crisis, china always stands firmly on the side of peace and dialogue. the uk and the european union appear to be on the brink of completing a new brexit deal for northern ireland with the government describing negotiation

so i think was important to go there, president putin invited president putin invited president xijinpingident xi jinping to visit russia and they agreed this would happen sometime in the spring, maybe april, and i think it is really to show that china has a different view of this than for instance most of the people at the munich security conference, the americans, the europeans and the asian allies who were very much backing ukraine.- much backing ukraine. you've mentioned — much backing ukraine. you've mentioned this _ much backing ukraine. you've mentioned this potential- much backing ukraine. you'vel mentioned this potential peace proposal from mentioned this potential peace proposalfrom beijing and mentioned this potential peace proposal from beijing and also president xijinping going to russia, how significant do you think that that would be? ihell think that that would be? well i think has _ think that that would be? well i think has going _ think that that would be? well i think has going to _ think that that would be? .m i think has going to russia would really again cement this

translation: first of all, i am planning to meet - with xijinping and i think it will be beneficial fornd for the world's security. together with china we have large trade, this is not only about war. we are countries interested in keeping our economic relationships. at a meeting of the united nations security council to discuss the situation in ukraine, china's spokesperson stressed that his country was ready to help find what he described as a "political settlement". translation: the road - to peace will not be smooth. but no matter how complicated the situation is, we must not give up our efforts for peace. in terms of the ukraine crisis, china always stands firmly on the side of peace and dialogue. one of vladimir putin's closest allies, president lukashenko of belarus, is to visit china on tuesday as beijing tries to present itself as a peacemaker in ukraine. joining me now is asia pacific editor for the bbc world service, michael bristow. just talk to me about the significance of this meeting, have we got any idea what they are going to discuss? we we got any idea what they are go

ukraine's president zelensky has said he plans to meet china's leader, xijinping — to discuss beijing'sposals on ending the war in ukraine. china's plan calls for peace talks and respect for national sovereignty — but does not call for russia to withdraw its forces. voting is under way in nigeria — to elect a new president. the incumbent, muhammadu buhari, is stepping aside after serving the maximum two terms in office. a winter storm has brought snow, rain and threats of flooding to southern california. there's a blizzard warning for parts of los angeles county for the first time since 1989. you're watching bbc news. now its time for the travel show this week on the travel show, fire — and fairness — on a scottish island. i'm a woman, and i have a daughter, who is three, and i would love to see her participate on her own terms. fancy a holiday for free? well, almost. we are looking at canny ways to travel on the cheap. i was earning very good money, putting frozen pies in a box. you can absolutely fund all this traveljust by moving around and working. and the final curtain at broadway'

that coincide with our plan a-a with our formula with ten points and those points proposed by er-e xijinping, you absolutely correctly asked the question, the answer to it is again not easy, i would, by the way i share your position that china's proposal is more of a declaration than an offer to us of the ukrainian peace formula that volodymyr zelenskyi proposed to us, and the ukrainian vision is that it has already been established these 10 points, including the key ones in the resolution of the un general assembly, which is now the highest the maximum level of legitimacy of the specific ten points proposed by ukraine , china just came out with a corresponding declaration with proposals on, let's say, the world arena , are there any points that coincide of course, first of all, there is respect for the borders, but there are also points, but there are positions , let's say, that disagree with the ukrainian formula of the mayor, and i have just mentioned that one of the key positions of our formula is the withdrawal of the force to withdraw russian troops from the territory of ukraine in the

he was due to meet among others, the chinese president, xijinping, and i was called off the last minutehey have no plans to reschedule. until this balloon was taken care of. now it has been. i balloon was taken care of. now it has been. ., ., ., . ~ ., has been. i want to go back to the fliuht has been. i want to go back to the flight radar— has been. i want to go back to the flight radar website. _ has been. i want to go back to the flight radar website. joe's - has been. i want to go back to the flight radar website. joe's all - has been. i want to go back to the flight radar website. joe's all the i flight radar website. joe's all the aeroplanes in the air around the world at any point. —— it shows all the aeroplanes. we want to get a sense of if that airspace is going to be reopened anytime soon. if we can try and head in and zoom in and find the area which is kind of clear, and i've got to be completely honest, my eyesight is not what to be. you can see... the faa did absolutely clear that airspace. you can still see there, given that evidence from the flight radar, the airspace is

later this week, china's leader president xijinping later this week, china's leader president xi jinpings week and apparently calling for a settlement in ukraine but if the war looks like it will keep going it looks like vladimir putin will face a humiliating defeat on the battlefield and it is unclear what china may do. there is one other thing that the foreign minister did mention in his speech. he stressed that china wants all sides to avoid straying into nuclear conflict. so there is concern about that here in beijing. as he was saying, the theme of fearing about nuclear threat. lynn rusten serves as a vice president at the non—profit organisation, the nuclear threat initiative in washington and was involved in the negotiation of this treaty which putin has now suspended. earlier i asked her about russia's decision today. what the russians have said and vladimir putin have said is that they tend to abide by the numerical limits of the treaty with their suspending — just what they are suspending is their participation in on—site inspections which both sides have suspended during the p

speak, the us secretary of state antony blinken was due to be sitting down with the chinese premier xijinpingy cancelled in the light of this balloon imbroglio, and that is being seen as a setback, given that relations between the two largest economies in the world have sunk to what some have described as a new kind of cold war and there was hope that some of that relationship could be averaged by antony blinken�*s visit to beijing. today, the two nations took rather contrasting views of the cancellation of that visit and the implications of this balloon shoot—down. china called it an unacceptable violation of international law, whilst president biden, asked by reporters at the white house whether it had weakened relations between the two countries, said he did not think it had. and the white house is at pains to point out that it believes the blinken visit to beijing has simply been delayed and not called off altogether, but rearranging it will be difficult, and some believe that a line will have to be drawn under this whole balloon incident before a rearranged visit can take place. there is

before the war, vladimir putin and president xijinping agreed what they called a partnership with not is about to find out if that's true. james landale, bbc news, munich. a year after the invasion of ukraine, more than 100 laws have been introduced in russia to prevent people opposing the conflict or even calling it a war. anyone who does speak out risks losing their own freedom and potentially that of their families. a bbc world service investigation now tells the stories of those who've been taking extraordinary risks over the past 12 months to oppose the war here. nawal al—maghafi has that story. nina spent four years as a district councillor in a small city in western russia. she'd been speaking out online against russia's invasion of ukraine. but last march, she took the stage at a council meeting after colleagues challenged her on the statements she'd made. determined to document the moment, she dismisses their angry calls to stop filming. translation: | am against - the decision taken by the president of the russian federation and against the actions that are being carried ou

biden said going back many months when the aggression first took place and he spoke to president xijinpingm at that point that there would be real consequences in our own relationship were china to provide lethal assistance to russia in this aggression against ukraine or in a systematic way aiding the evasion of sanctions. well, earlier, the chinese foreign ministry said it was america, not china that was endlessly shipping weapons to the battlefield. wang yi, china's top diplomat, is expected in moscow for talks on several issues including ukraine. for more on the role of china in the war in ukraine, i've been speaking to ianjohnson, a senior fellow in china studies at the us think tank, the council on foreign relations. i asked him whether there is any evidence for what the united states is saying about china. well, so far there there is no real evidence the united states has made this assertion that china's considering i think they've probably been considering this for about a year and so far have refrained from doing so for good reason — that this would cause a huge rift. now, i guess

window to draw a line under this balloon incident and for mr blinken to proceed with his meeting with xijinping will be up to china. and, david, what more have we been learning about the balloon? well, we heard over the weekend that as many as four previous chinese surveillance balloons had been spotted over the united states, three of them during the trump administration. but today, a pentagon official admitted that they had not been spotted in real time, it was only subsequently that the four previous balloons had been identified as such and he called that an "awareness gap". so how, then, did the pentagon subsequently become aware of the fact that they were surveillance balloons? well, it appears that what happens is that some of those sightings were classified as so—called unexplained phenomena — in other words ufos — and were classified and looked at as such by officials at the pentagon. now they know very well indeed what chinese surveillance balloons look like, and there will be looking out for them in the future. it was revealed over the weekend, also, by the pentagon, that these chines

iranian president ebrahim raisi has arrived in beijing for a state visit with his chinese counterpart, xijinpingof his cabinet, who are expected to sign agreements worth up to 20 billion dollars. the president of peru, dina boluarte, has announced that she is launching an assault on terrorism after seven members of the police force were killed in an ambush on saturday. the officers died in a mountainous area of southern peru where guerrillas and criminal groups are known to work together in the production of cocaine. an independent commission looking into the sexual abuse of minors in the portuguese catholic church said it has documented over a,800 victims. it said this was only the tip of the iceberg. four years ago, pope francis promised to root out paedophilia within the church, when many sex abuse cases came to light around the world. the bbc�*s azaday moshiri reports. piano plays. solemn notes dedicated to the victims of abuse. they open a session detailing yet more trauma at the hands of the catholic church. the findings are both appalling and familiar. translation: it is an open - wound t

window to draw a line under this balloon incident and for mr blinken to proceed with his meeting with xijinpingigence—powered chatbot to rival chatgpt— which mimics human writing on demand. chatgpt, owned by microsoft, has taken the tech world by storm since its launch two months ago. james clayton reports from los angeles. chatgpt said the internet on file when it launched in november. it's incredibly detailed answers have amazed users. they can pass exams, compose poems, even write code. it's seen as game changing technology. now google has rushed to announce its version of chatgpt. it's called bud and it's based on similar technology. bud seeks to combine the breadth of the world's knowledge with our intelligence and creativity of our large language models. it was stressed that he wanted google's ai services to bold and responsible is but there was more than a whiff of panic as well. this announcement is the latest salvo in fight between google and microsoft workers make no mistake about it, chatgpt threatens to undermine google's entire business model. that's because chatgpt�*s ai could tra

translation: first of all, i'm planning to meet - with xijinping, and i think it will be beneficial forld security. together with china, we have large trade. this is not only about war, we are countries interested in keeping our economic relationships. let's discuss this further with michael o'hanlon. he's a senior fellow at the brookings institute. thank at the brookings institute. you for being with us. not thank you for being with us. not long ago, we had the us accusing china of potentially supplying russia with weapons in its war and now we hear china is on the search for peace. is this how the war ends? ~ ., , ,., peace. is this how the war ends? ~ .,, , , ends? well, i hope so but it is early days _ ends? well, i hope so but it is early days and _ ends? well, i hope so but it is early days and the _ ends? well, i hope so but it is early days and the peace - early days and the peace process. and i think you know, and i think everyone has their expectations pretty modest at this point but i still like to step forward, the idea that china is willing to first of all firmly recognise

before the war, vladimir putin and president xijinping agreed what they called a partnership with no true. james landale, bbc news, munich. meanwhile, the picture in russia, a year after the invasion of ukraine, has seen more than a hundred laws being introduced to prevent people opposing the conflict, or even calling it a war. anyone who does speak out potentially puts themselves or their families in danger. a bbc investigation tells the stories of those who've been taking extraordinary risks over the past 12 months to oppose the war. nawal al—maghafi has that story. nina spent four years as a district councillor in a small city in western russia. she'd been speaking out online against russia's invasion of ukraine. but last march, she took the stage at a council meeting after colleagues challenged her on the statements she'd made. determined to document the moment, she dismisses their angry calls to stop filming. translation: i am against the decision taken by the president of the russian federation and against the actions that are being carried out today on the territory of the sov

and just to say that on friday there is the anticipated speech by president xijinping on there is the president xi jinping on the war in ukraine and we will be covering that here on bbc world news. meanwhile, russia and china are to begin a full naval exercise with south africa, off the coast of kwazulu—natal. among the vessels is a frigate equipped with hypersonic cruise missiles. russia is expected to fire artillery — but not the cruise missiles — during the exercises. our africa correspondent andrew harding reports. farfrom ukrainea far from ukraine a formidable russian warship, docking in south africa today. bristling with long range missiles and branded unapologetically with the letter v, the symbol of russia's invasion of ukraine. so why is democratic south africa going along with all this, a week of military exercises, and with china too? below decks on the russian frigate, vladimir putin stares from the wall. the captain insists these are just routine drills, nothing provocative. his south african hosts go further, suggesting that this kind of cooperation is actually what russ

highlighting a few areas of commonality with the ukraine it be inside, he proposed a meeting with xijinpingo talk to him over the entirely of the last year. i think hopes that china will pay a mediating role a quite limited. the concern is not only is there the possibility of providing legal aid on china's part but indeed the supplies that china have providing have been stepping out. ——up that's drones, jamming equipment, thus, this whole series of other things was that the question is whether they will provide ammunition and drones which is been under discussion. i suppose the question is whether they would fear the repercussions of that, presumably it would involve sanctions. exactly so. they haven't made a decision yet even though negotiations have proceeded on this. i think the reason some of the intelligence has been released publicly is to put pressure on them. certainly sections from the us side, questions from the european side. us china relations are in a dark place at the moment. but the diplomatic cost for china and europe will be exceptionally high. we from european foreign mini

calibrated for this to happen, to fire a shot across the bow was because we know biden has been pushing xijinpingpushing xi jinping for closer diplomatic ties and to reopen... 0ne diplomatic ties and to reopen... one of the things that has been cut is the military to military ties and the military to military ties and the us was hoping to open those, and that's why antony blinken was going over to beijing, one of the reasons, and that has now been cut back. when things like this happen, often the side doing it has thought through the second and third order effects because they don't want this to happen at this time. i think the diplomatic side, there's definitely more scope for thawing of relations, but we will see. this depends on how china comes about in its area in terms of the pacific because it's also been very assertive we could say in terms of its military posture, especially towards taiwan. the military to military thing i think will come after that, if there is for example a rescheduled visit in the coming months.— in the coming months. patrick, alwa s in the coming months. patrick, alwa

addressing foreign journalists on friday, president zelensky also said he plans to meet china's leader xijinpings proposals on ending the war in ukraine. he said the proposal signalled that china was involved in the search for peace. translation: first of all, i am ”lannin translation: first of all, i am planning to _ translation: first of all, i am planning to meet _ translation: first of all, i am planning to meet with - translation: first of all, i am planning to meet with xi - planning to meet with xi jinping, and i think it will be beneficial for our countries, and for the world's security. together with china, we have large trade. this is not only about war. we are countries interested in keeping our economic relationships. 50 interested in keeping our economic relationships. so what role can china _ economic relationships. so what role can china play _ economic relationships. so what role can china play in _ economic relationships. so what role can china play in securing i role can china play in securing a potential peace deal between russia and ukraine? michael 0'hanlon is a senior fello

if you look at the way that the president, xijinping has been working towards easing tension with then recent months, especially with that visit he had a november with presidentjoe biden, which seem to have gone quite well, and his attempts to get secretary blinken to build on that to sort out guardrails of this relationship, even if they can't solve fundamentals. there was a lot at stake here, and it was important for the chinese as well as the americans, and especially for the americans, and especially for the chinese, because they are facing tightening restrictions on advanced technology, notjust from the us but from other countries as well. i think they want to at least establish better relation so they can deal with that in some way. given that, what would have been the value of intelligence they could have gotten from this balloon? it is really not clear that there was a great deal of value from it. the analysts here speculate that this may have been a mistake, that there was some sort of mistake made at some level, but this happened at this time. 1, ., some level, but this happ

perhaps a call set up between xijinping and hardline...being a surveillance aircraft. some limitation, but i imagine issues will be trying to resolve all options here. getting to the bottom of this with the chinese. could you help us pull it back the curtain here? how does diplomacy work here? you have that top—tier option, which is president biden picks up the phone, speaks directly to president xi or vice versa. for other senior calls or senior contacts, lower levels of being in touch and trying to figure out what happened. the united states has always been happened. the united states has always bee— happened. the united states has alwa s bee ., ~ ., ., always been working... some of that uuoin always been working. .. some of that going in. takes— always been working... some of that going in, takes on directly, - going in, takes on directly, although you have to imagine at some point, given this, it will have to take place at the top level. you can imagine this is being worked very heavily in washington. the us is just going to have to f

president xijinping is expected to release this oppose a peace proposal. i expected to release this opposee proposal. i think that the chinese _ a peace proposal. i think that the chinese are _ a peace proposal. i think that the chinese are going - a peace proposal. i think that the chinese are going to - the chinese are going to basically make the following arguments dashed china is not at this time supplying weapons to russia, unlike the west, which is supplying weapons to ukraine. therefore, the chinese proposal is somehow more objective. my guess is that he is going to suggest therefore that the west revolt if supply weapons to ukraine, forcing the two sides into negotiations from which" peace" will then resolve. ., ~' , resolve. you think they will su -l resolve. you think they will suaply russia _ resolve. you think they will supply russia with - resolve. you think they will supply russia with little - supply russia with little support as claimed by the administration? i support as claimed by the administration?— support as claimed by the administration? i think that the chinese _ ad

probably know better than i do that russia's deep deep in its economic with china and president xijinpingbolise that partnership. we know the indians are actually buying more russian energy because of the opportunistic price levels they can get it out. we know that brazil and south africa and a host of other countries are not only refusing to impose sanctions but are also refusing, frankly, to condemn putin and what friendly relations with him. the idea that you could isolate russia and bring it low, economically, frankly, it does not seem as though it will work. it not seem as though it will work. ., ~' work. it will work in the long-term. _ work. it will work in the long-term. so - work. it will work in the long-term. so again, i work. it will work in the l long-term. so again, we work. it will work in the - long-term. so again, we cannot long—term. so again, we cannot expect that it will happen overnight. that russia will be weekend overnight. what needs to happen soon is acknowledging russia as a state sponsor of terrorism and putting secondary sanctions on them, pushing harder. basic

xijinping said china will unswervingly develop friendly cooperation with then iran, no matter how internationalg in on the international community. they also said they would help iran protect its rights when it comes to defending its nuclear programme. the two have had trunks trade, china is the biggest buyer of iranian oil so no doubt a lot of these remarks will be music to the is of iran. they have had tensions, recently we had example —— words from president raceis sein there has been allowing the oration ship, —— in the relationship. they were strong remarks made by china as well as saudi arabia when it comes to the regional rival iran, as well as i had a deal back in 2020, 2021, to improve relations between the two, and so far it hasn't been that fruitful. china is relying... as a result of the opening up of the covid policy, they need this oil but no doubt this visit is attracting the attention and perhaps the ire of washington, it has been trying to pressure china to tailback its relationship with iran and stop buying oil, as well as trying to enforce the sanctions. the one bright light

crucially vladimir putin has said his chinese - putin has said his chinese counterpart xijinping putinng will soon come to moscow and the thinking is this will be in the coming months. we know this because he made the announcement at a meeting he had with wang yi who is the most senior foreign policy official in china. they met across a table which is very small by the standards of vladimir putin, a guest symbolic of the closeness of the friendship between the two governments. but if you were the beijing government and wanted to show the world that you really were neutral in the ukraine war would you send this very senior government official to moscow to stand side by side with the russian government proclaiming that both of you together were promoting peace and stabilityjust days before the first anniversary of the invasion of ukraine? beijing knows how this will be seen in many countries and yet have judged be seen in many countries and yet havejudged it is more important for them to offer this moral support to vladimir putin and his government. sergei lavrov the foreign minister and

highlighting a few areas of commonality with the ukraine it be inside, he proposed a meeting with she xijinping entirely of the last year. i think hopes that china will pay a mediating role a quite limited. the concern is not only is there the possibility of providing legal aid on china's part but indeed the supplies that china have providing have been stepping out. that's drones, jamming equipment, thus, this whole series of other things was that the question is whether they will provide ammunition and drones which is been under discussion. t and drones which is been under discussion-— and drones which is been under discussion. , , , ., discussion. i suppose the question is whether they _ discussion. i suppose the question is whether they would _ discussion. i suppose the question is whether they would fear - discussion. i suppose the question is whether they would fear the - is whether they would fear the repercussions of that, presumably it would involve sanctions.— would involve sanctions. exactly so. they haven't — would involve sanctions. exactly so. they haven't made _ would involve sanc

presidentjoe biden also says he would talk to xijinping about biden also says he would talk to xi jinping incident, saying that the us is not looking for a new cold war. we will see if and when those talks happen. we will see if and when those talks happen-— let's get some of the day's other news. us securities regulators have charged crypto developer do kwon and his company terraform labs with orchestrating a multi—billion dollar crypto fraud. the securities and exchange commission also accused do kwon and terraform labs of misleading investors about the stability of their stablecoin. terraform was behind two cryptocurrencies which collapsed last year — one of them was a stablecoin pegged to the us dollar. it's estimated investors lost some $112 billion in the crash. meanwhile, one of china's top dealmakers is missing. investment bank china renaissance said it's been unable to make contact with its founder and chairman bao fan. the firm said it was still running normally. in corporate china, the phrase "out of contact" could sometimes mean the person was under investigation by authoritie