The United States has long made clear to the People’s Republic of China that any support the PRC would give to Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine would be met with grave concern.
Now, said State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel, the United States believes “the PRC is supporting Russia’s war effort:”
“It’s doing so by helping ramp up its defense production. Specifically, the PRC is providing Russia with significant quantities of machine tools, microelectronics, optics, UAV’s
and cruise missile technology, and nitrocellulose, which Russia uses to make propellants for weapons. … This kind of support is actively enabling Russia’s war in Ukraine, and it poses a significant threat to European security.”
During a townhall at the National Committee on U.S.- China Relations, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell noted that the relationship that PRC President Xi Jinping has invested in the most is with Vladimir Putin:
“They’ve met dozens of times, up to 50 times, hundreds of hours. They’ve endeavored to build a partnership that’s largely based on aggrievement with the West and the United States.”
With the help of the PRC, Russia has been able to “almost completely re-tool,” said Deputy Secretary Campbell, and now poses a significant threat not only to Ukraine but to the surrounding region.
“If Russia’s offensives continue, and they gain territory in Ukraine, that will alter the balance of power in Europe in ways that are frankly unacceptable from our perspective. And we will see this not as just a Russian unique set of activities, but a conjoined set of activities backed by China, but also North Korea.”
Deputy Secretary Campbell said, “We’ve told China directly, ‘If this continues, it will have an impact on the U.S.-China relationship. We will not sit by and say everything is fine.’”
Spokesperson Patel noted that in the past weeks the United States has been briefing its allies and partners on U.S. concerns over this matter. In addition, he declared, “We’ve issued an executive order targeting third-country banks that facilitate support to the Russian defense industrial base; we’ve sanctioned relevant firms in the PRC; and [we] are prepared to take further steps as necessary.”
