The Thread of Life.

Starve, stretch and strike.

1. Xi Jinping personally warned Vladimir Putin against using nuclear weapons in Ukraine, indicating Beijing harbors concerns about Russia’s war even as it offers tacit backing to Moscow, according to western and Chinese officials. The face-to-face message was delivered during the Chinese president’s state visit to Moscow in March, the people added, one of Xi’s first trips outside China after years of isolation under his zero-Covid policy. Since then, Chinese officials have privately taken credit for convincing the Russian president to back down from his veiled threats of using a nuclear weapon against Ukraine, the people said. Deterring Putin from using such a weapon has been central to China’s campaign to repair damaged ties with Europe, said a senior adviser to the Chinese government. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has placed Moscow and its ally Beijing at odds with much of the continent. (Source: ft.com)