By Lingling Wei

In an unusual diplomatic move, Chinese leader Xi Jinping initiated a phone call with President Trump on Monday, and the two men spoke about Taiwan and Ukraine as Washington, Kyiv and Moscow try to hammer out a plan to end the war.

China has provided crucial diplomatic and economic support for Russia following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Now that Trump is pushing to make a decisive move to end the war, Beijing is seeking to play a more visible role.

"Xi Jinping emphasized that China supports all efforts committed to peace and hopes that all parties will continue to narrow their differences and reach a fair, lasting, and binding peace agreement as soon as possible to resolve the crisis at its root," Chinese state media said in an account of the conversation.

"China is watching the Ukraine peace deal and feels the need to be more involved," said Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center, a Washington think tank.

The Chinese leader also highlighted the issue of Taiwan, a flashpoint between Beijing and Washington, as tensions across the Taiwan Strait have flared in recent weeks.

"Taiwan's return to China is an important component of the postwar international order," according to the Chinese state media account. In a pointed historical parallel, Xi also asserted that since China and the U.S. "fought side-by-side against fascism and militarism" during World War II, they should now work together to safeguard those achievements.

Trump affirmed that the U.S. "understands the importance of the Taiwan issue to China," Xinhua said.

While the official Xinhua News Agency disclosed the call, it didn't specify which leader took the initiative. However, people close to Beijing said it was Xi who made the outreach, transforming the high-level communication into a strategic, and rare, diplomatic overture from the Chinese side. A White House official confirmed that Trump and Xi spoke.

Xi's decision to initiate the call is an uncommon show of proactive outreach from Beijing, signaling the high strategic value it places on stabilizing the U.S. relationship -- and, specifically, ensuring Washington's commitment to its One China position on Taiwan.

"It is highly unusual for Xi to initiate a call, and it underscores the opportunity Xi believes he has to shape President Trump's views," said Evan Medeiros, a former senior national-security official in the Obama administration and now a professor at Georgetown University. "Taiwan policy is almost certainly at the center of Xi's thinking, pulling the U.S. closer to China's thinking about Taiwan's future."

Write to Lingling Wei at Lingling.Wei@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 24, 2025 11:20 ET (16:20 GMT)

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