officially, china says it wants to stay out of the war in ukraine, but notably, beijing has yet to condemn the russian invasion, yet to even describe it as a war, preferring to echo russian propaganda. in the coming hours, u.s. president joe biden will speak with his chinese counterpart xi jinping, warning beijing not to offer any assistance to vladimir putin, whom president biden now describes as a thug. >> and, you know, the republics are standing together against a murderous dictator. a pure thug who is waging an immoral war against the people of ukraine. >> cnn's kristie lu stout live this hour in hong kong. i guess the question is how long can china have a bet each way. will this phone call essentially force beijing to pick a side? >> it's interesting, this balancing game that china is playing. it wants to be seen on the