KT McFarland to Newsmax: Chinese in 'Odd Position' With Russia Over Ukraine

The Chinese are in an "odd position" when it comes to how it will deal with Russia moving forward, making President Joe Biden's call with Chinese President Xi Jinping Friday potentially one of the most important phone calls of Biden's presidency, K.T. McFarland, a deputy national security adviser under former President Donald Trump, said on Newsmax Friday.

"Remember at the beginning of the Olympics in Beijing, the Chinese president and the Russian president cited a document, and it said it was a joint statement saying that there will be no limits to their cooperation," McFarland told Newsmax's "Wake Up America."

The statement, in part, said Russia believed China has a territorial right to Taiwan and Russia has the rights to Ukraine, said McFarland, "so China's already on the record as supporting Russia's moves. Obviously, they knew about it in advance, that they talked about it."

That leaves the Chinese in an "odd position," she added. "Do they really want to support" Russian President Vladimir Putin, "who has now become a global pariah?"

However, she said, China will look to take advantage of the Ukraine invasion, including being able to buy Russian oil and natural gas, which is banned in the United States and elsewhere, at a bargain price.

"Putin is going to be looking for his financial assistance from China," said McFarland. "This war is expensive … he certainly didn't plan to have to pay for this war. He thought by now he'd be enjoying the spoils of war from Ukraine."

McFarland also rejected comments from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said Thursday Biden has done a "masterful job" managing the Ukraine situation.

"I think he has done a very poor job," said McFarland, adding that she thinks Biden's actions early in his administration" enabled Putin.

"When Biden comes in and appoints the same people who are in the Obama administration, Putin says, I know these guys. If I could [invade] Crimea on the last one, I'll do the rest of Ukraine on this one."

Biden's actions shutting down American energy also was a signal to Putin because the prices of fossil fuels climbed, said McFarland.

Putin became "rich from that," she continued. "All of a sudden, his coffers are full because the prices of energy, his major export, have become so high. But then I think there were several other things that the Biden administration did and Biden personally to signal real weakness and real decline."

Meanwhile, Putin, in a call Thursday with Turkish President Recep Erdogan, laid out several terms he'd accept to declare peace in Ukraine, and McFarland said some of his calls mark a negotiating position that may not be a "bad first step."

For example, one of the demands is that Ukraine stays out of NATO, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has already said that's off the table, said McFarland.

However, Putin's demands that Ukraine gives up its weapons will never happen, she added.

McFarland stressed, though, that Putin won't admit defeat on Ukraine, as that will be "the end" of him," so she hopes that negotiations will provide Putin a way out.

Otherwise, he could, out of desperation, turn to weapons of mass destruction, including tactical nuclear or chemical weapons," said McFarland.

"Putin has a record of leveling cities and leveling countries," said McFarland. "He has no shame. There will be no conscience about, you know, killing children and killing civilians."

She concluded: "I hope that we have an off-ramp for Putin to get what we can get now and then come back in another couple of years when Putin is bankrupt again because oil prices go down."

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