Biden shores up Western allies as Putin digs in on Ukraine
Associated PressWARSAW, Poland — President Joe Biden closed out his wartime visit to Europe on Wednesday, working to shore up partnerships with allies on NATO’s perilous eastern flank — even as Russia’s Vladimir Putin was drawing closer to China for help as his invasion of Ukraine neared the one-year mark. Biden responded to that anxiety by pledging that NATO’s mutual defense pact is “sacred” and that “we will defend literally every inch of NATO.” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who attended the meeting, pointed to past Russian actions in Georgia and Ukraine and said, “We cannot allow Russia to continue to chip away at European security. One European official described the intelligence regarding Chinese consideration of supplying Russia with weapons as “unambiguous.” Western officials do not know whether the possibility is currently being studied only by China’s military or some other single branch of the government, or by the Chinese government as a whole, the official said. Li Mingjiang, an associate professor in international relations at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said at an event hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace last week that Beijing was weighing the value of creating “a situation in which the U.S. will have to now deal with really two potential enemies and challengers and that will help divert a bit of America’s attention and resources from the Asia Pacific region.” ___ Miller reported from Washington.