a new wave of covid-19. the worst since wuhan 2020. economic blow back from the war in ukraine is the last thing beijing can afford. american officials have warned china will pay a price if it circumvents sanctions to help russia. or helps militarily. >> china has to make a decision for the themselves about where they want to stand. and how they want the history books to look at them and view their actions. and that is the decision for president xi and chinese to make. >> president biden right now hoping to get xi to take on the role of peacemaker. interesting to compare the read outs from both sides. the u.s. side stressing this was mostly about ukraine. with biden warning xi of the consequences should china help russia. state media here in china playing up that xi pressed biden on taiwan. which china considers as part of its sovereignty. xi warning biden if the taiwan issue is not handled properly. it won't be good for u.s. china