As Europe slid into its first war of the 21st century, the Biden administration made a desperate play, hoping that China somehow would work with the West in dissuading Russia from invading Ukraine. According to reports in The New York Times, for months the Biden administration plied the Chinese with U.S. intelligence indicating that Russia was planning on invading Ukraine, “and beseeched the Chinese to tell Russia not to invade, according to U.S. officials.”