Washington DC - Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell warned on Tuesday that the US will hold China responsible if Russia makes gains in Ukraine, after Beijing renewed pledges of cooperation between the two nations.

Campbell, who has long been associated with re-gearing the US government's policy towards Asia, said that for the US, maintaining peace and stability in Europe is "our most important mission historically."

With Moscow renewing its Ukraine offensive amid a deadlock in the US Congress on approving more weapons to Ukraine, Campbell warned that Russian territorial gains could "alter the balance of power in Europe in ways that are, frankly, unacceptable."

His comments came after Russia foreign minister Sergey Lavrov visited Beijing on April 9. Lavrov and his Chinese counterpart, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, discussed ways to deepen cooperation between the two nations.

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Al Jazeera reported that Wang "emphasized that China would continue to deepen its trading relationship, its economic relationship with Moscow at a time when Western allies are trying to isolate Putin, and isolate Moscow."

Campbell said that the US had "told China directly, [that] if this continues, it will have an impact on the US-China relationship. We will not sit by and say everything is fine."

"We will see this not as just a Russian-unique set of activities, but a conjoined set of activities backed by China and also North Korea. This is antithetical to our interests," Campbell said.

President Joe Biden's administration had reportedly warned Chinese officials prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, when intelligence indicated Russian President Vladimir Putin's intentions.

"I'm not sure they completely believed us, or thought that maybe it would be a smaller thing, not an all-out move and push," Campbell said.