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Senior US and Chinese officials held a long meeting in Rome on Monday, with the US expressing "deep concerns" during "intense" discussions on Russia's war in Ukraine and other security matters.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan “raised a range of issues in US-China relations” with Beijing’s top diplomat, Communist Party Politburo member Yang Jiechi, the White House said.
The seven-hour meeting, the most senior this year between the two powers, featured "substantial discussion of Russia’s war against Ukraine" and "underscored the importance of maintaining open lines of communication between the United States and China", the White House said.
A senior US official described the Rome talks as "intense".
The meeting was a "timely and important conversation in this crisis moment", the official said, noting that the US continues to "have deep concerns about China's alignment with Russia".
Moscow and Beijing have drawn closer in what Washington sees as an increasingly hostile alliance of the authoritarian nuclear powers.
Mr Sullivan's meeting was planned weeks ago, officials said, but it took on new urgency after Russian President Vladimir Putin's attacks on Ukrainian cities.
US media earlier reported that Russia has asked China for military and economic assistance as its troops struggle to make ground in Ukraine and its economy faces devastation from western sanctions.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on Monday rejected the accusations, calling them “malicious".
“The top priority now is that all parties should exercise restraint to de-escalate and cool down the situation instead of fuelling the tensions,” Mr Zhao said.
The New York Times quoted a US official who said that Moscow also asked Beijing for economic assistance, but there were no details on the request or whether China had responded.
The senior US official declined to comment on whether China is open to providing Russia with military support.
"We are communicating directly and privately to China about our concerns about the kinds of support the other countries might be providing to Russia," the official said.
Mr Sullivan, the official said, "was direct about those concerns and the potential implications and consequences of certain actions".
The two sides also discussed North Korea and Taiwan.
US President Joe Biden's administration has sought to persuade Beijing to use its influence in Moscow to help end the Ukraine war, which is now in its third week.
Mr Biden's top advisers have pressured China to enforce sanctions on Russia’s economy, which were imposed by the US and its European and Asian allies.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen last week said the sanctions were limiting China's ability to buy Russian oil, and Beijing was not “meaningfully offsetting or lessening” sanctions pressure on Moscow.
“My sense is that financial institutions in China that do business in dollars and in euros are worried about the impact of sanctions,” Ms Yellen said.
CIA Director William Burns told the Senate intelligence committee that Beijing was "unsettled" by the war and had not foreseen that Russian forces would struggle in Ukraine.
China’s President Xi Jinping "in particular is unsettled by what he's seeing, partly because his own intelligence doesn't appear to have told him what was going to happen", Mr Burns said.
China abstained from a key vote at the UN Security Council regarding the war.
The Biden administration saw the abstention as an encouraging sign of Beijing creating distance from Russia on the international stage.
Agencies contributed to this report
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Police officers detain a woman in central Moscow, during a protest against Russian military action in Ukraine. AFP -
Children look at phones as people who fled the conflict in Ukraine wait outside an immigration office in Brussels, Belgium. Reuters -
Soldiers stand next to a bus with a damaged windscreen, after an attack on the Yavoriv military base, in Novoyavorivsk, Ukraine. Reuters -
A soldier waits at a hospital after the attack on the Yavoriv military base. Reuters -
A wounded soldier is transported by medical workers, at a hospital in Novoyavorivsk, after the attack on the Yavoriv military base. Reuters -
Rescuers work at the site of an accident after a bus that was carrying about 50 Ukrainian refugees overturned near Forli, central Italy. One person died in the crash. AFP -
A man wounded in the air strikes at a nearby military complex is assisted by medical staff outside Novoiavorivsk District Hospital. Getty Images -
Paramedics find low ground after an air-raid siren sounds on the outskirts of Novoiavorivsk. Getty Images -
A view of a residential building damaged during an air strike, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Chernihiv, Ukraine. Reuters -
A tram damaged by shelling sits at a depot, in Kharkiv. AP -
An abandoned doll next to a car riddled with bullets in Irpin, north of Kyiv. AFP -
A Ukrainian soldier holds a Next Generation Light Anti-tank Weapon that was used to destroy a Russian armoured personal carrier in Irpin. AFP -
Residents try to strengthen the wall of a house damaged by recent shelling, on the outskirts Kyiv. AFP -
Firefighters extinguish a blaze at a house after shelling in Kyiv. AFP -
A convoy of pro-Russian troops outside the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region, Ukraine. Reuters -
Smoke from shelling rises behind a wreath at a cemetery in Vasylkiv, south-west of Kyiv. AP -
A woman stands outside a local hospital, damaged during fighting in Volnovakha. Reuters -
People gather in the basement of a local hospital, which was damaged during clashes in Volnovakha. Reuters -
A Ukrainian soldier leaves a damaged building after shelling in Kyiv. AFP -
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. AFP -
A finance police officer boards Russian billionaire Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko's superyacht, which has been sequestered at the northern port of Trieste, Italy. Reuters -
A Russian KA-52 gunship strikes a Ukrainian military object. AFP -
Bystanders watch what appears to be Russian forces arresting Ivan Fedorov, mayor of Melitopol, a city in south-eastern Ukraine. Reuters -
Firefighters battle a blaze at a warehouse storing frozen products hit by shelling in Kvitneve, Kyiv region. Reuters -
A soldier loads the cargo hold of a chartered Boeing 747 airplane with duffle bags belonging to US soldiers, during their deployment to Europe, at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Georgia. AP -
Two young girls pray for peace in Ukraine at Lisbon's 16th century Jeronimos Monastery. AP Photo -
A volunteer of the Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces walks on the debris of a car wash destroyed by Russian bombing in Baryshivka, east of Kyiv. AP Photo -
Volunteers pass an improvised path under a destroyed bridge as they help an elderly resident in Irpin, north-west Kyiv. AP Photo -
A woman who was evacuated from Irpin kisses a cat wrapped in a blanket at a triage point in Kyiv. AP Photo -
An explosion is seen in an apartment building after a Russian army tank fires in Mariupol. AP Photo -
A Russian army tank moves through a street on the outskirts of Mariupol. AP Photo -
Tonya Steyn, office manager and volunteer co-ordinator, sorts through medical supplies at the non-governmental organisation, SOS International headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky. AFP -
An overview of damaged buildings and burning fuel storage tanks at Antonov Airport in Hostomel, north-west of Kyiv. Maxar Technologies / AFP -
The destroyed main building of school number 25, after being bombed in Zhytomyr. EPA -
A supporter holds a sign to support Ukraine during Paris' mayor and 'Socialist party' (PS) presidential candidate's campaign meeting in Rennes, western France. AFP
