The US is warning allies that China has stepped up its support for Russia, including by providing geospatial intelligence, to help Moscow in its war against Ukraine.
Amid signs of continued military integration between the two nations, China has provided Russia with satellite imagery for military purposes, as well as microelectronics and machine tools for tanks, people familiar with the matter said.
China’s support also includes optics, propellants to be used in missiles and increased space cooperation, one of the people said.
Photo: Reuters
US President Joe Biden raised concerns with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during their call this week about China’s support for the Russian defense industrial base, including machine tools, optics, nitrocellulose, microelectronics and turbojet engines, White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment during the holiday weekend.
Beijing has sought to portray itself as mostly neutral in the face of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now into its third year, yet it has established a deep alliance with Moscow as part of what Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin termed a “no limits” friendship ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.
Trade between the two countries reached a record US$240 billion last year. Russia’s neighbor has become the supplier of everything from clothes to machinery and cars after an exodus of Western manufacturers and multiple rounds of sanctions. At the same time, Russia has boosted exports of commodities such as coal and oil to China.
Crucially, China and Hong Kong have also become key gateways for Moscow to access restricted technologies, including chips and integrated circuits, used in weapons or needed to build them. The US and EU have listed several Chinese firms for enabling those transfers, but the trade shows little sign of dropping off.
Last year, the Biden administration sanctioned a Chinese company for providing satellite images to a Russian technology firm that in turn supplied them to the Russian state-funded private military organization Wagner Group.
Beijing has also yet to indicate whether it would participate in a summit Ukraine has been organizing to agree on key principles upon which to build a future peace settlement with Russia.
China’s support for Russia has deepened in the past few months, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private matters.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken this week briefed European allies on the scope and significance of China’s support and on the need to do more to curtail it, one of the people said.
Blinken asked allies to raise the problem directly with China and to take actions against Chinese entities and companies, another person familiar with the discussions said.
The US and its allies will be looking to convey their concerns to Beijing and to ramp up efforts to crack down on China’s support for Russia’s defense industry, the people said.
The worries come as Ukraine faces a critical artillery shortage and its allies are flailing in their efforts to resupply Kyiv.
Meanwhile, Russia has boosted its domestic arms production, continues to import key components through a network of third countries, and is getting shells and other weaponry from the likes of North Korea and Iran.
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