Overview
- Financial Times reported that during closed-door talks in Beijing last week, Trump urged Xi to join the United States and Russia in pushing back on the International Criminal Court.
- The White House and China’s embassy declined to comment, and China’s foreign ministry later called the FT account “completely false.”
- The report surfaced as Vladimir Putin was expected in China for talks with Xi, giving the alleged proposal immediate diplomatic context.
- The International Criminal Court, based in The Hague, prosecutes genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, and it has issued warrants for Putin and for Israeli leaders.
- Opposition to the court aligns with past actions, including Trump’s 2025 sanctions and executive order against the ICC, Russia’s 2016 withdrawal, and China’s long-standing rejection of its authority.