China’s government probably approved of Chinese firms giving Russia non-lethal, “dual-use” support for its war in Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday, in remarks that underscore growing US concern that Beijing may go further and help arm President Vladimir Putin’s forces in Ukraine.
(Bloomberg) — China’s government probably approved of Chinese firms giving Russia non-lethal, “dual-use” support for its war in Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday, in remarks that underscore growing US concern that Beijing may go further and help arm President Vladimir Putin’s forces in Ukraine.
Last weekend, Blinken warned his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi against providing lethal aid to Moscow. The US has previously sanctioned Chinese firms for helping the war effort — including by imposing sanctions against a Chinese satellite firm that provided imagery of Ukrainian locations to Russian mercenaries.
“There has been some non-lethal, dual-use type support coming from quote-unquote Chinese companies, that almost certainly was approved by the state, because there’s really no difference, but not lethal military support,” Blinken said on Thursday in a conversation hosted by the Atlantic magazine. “But we also have picked up information over the last couple of months that China is now strongly considering doing that.”
US officials have previously blasted China for giving Moscow diplomatic, economic and propaganda support.
But Blinken’s comments that China’s government may have given tacit approval to firms aiding Russian forces through dual-use items, which have both military and civilian uses, only add to growing US-China tensions since the US discovered, and then shot down, an alleged Chinese spy balloon over the US.
Blinken said Thursday that he hoped China would get the message that providing Russia with military support for its invasion would dent Beijing’s international reputation as the country seeks to emerge from years of strict Covid measures and engage more in global diplomacy.
“I’m hopeful, but in a very clear-eyed way, that China will get that message because it’s not only coming from us, it’s coming from many other countries who do not want to see China aiding and abetting, in a material way, Russia’s war effort in Ukraine,” Blinken said. “And so to the extent China is trying to engage in a charm offensive these days, to re-engage with other countries as it comes out of Covid, I don’t think it wants to be in the business of further alienating them by providing lethal support to Russia.”
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