Ukraine war: China willing to give military support to Russia, US tells EU
- The EU was tipped off to China’s position but said the US had yet to share the underlying intelligence, so Brussels ‘does not have proof’, source says
- Beijing has ‘signalled its willingness’ to help, according to an initial report in the Financial Times
The United States told European Union officials that China had expressed willingness to provide Russia with the military support it requested for its attack on Ukraine, according to a source familiar with the exchange.
The source confirmed that the EU had been tipped off to China’s position but said the US had yet to share the underlying intelligence, so Brussels “does not have proof” of the claims.
The Financial Times first reported on Sunday that Russia had asked China for military assistance. On Monday, the newspaper reported that Beijing had “signalled its willingness” to help, though it was not clear whether China had already started providing support or if it was willing to do so in the future.
The initial reports were denied by both the Chinese and Russian governments. The Chinese Mission to the EU did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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China’s delicate position on Russia-Ukraine crisis and its opposition to Western sanctions
Earlier on Monday, an EU spokeswoman said that “while we take note of the February 4 joint statement highlighting rapprochement between China and Russia, we have no evidence that such a request was made of China”.
The revelations came as senior US and Chinese diplomats met in Rome to discuss Ukraine. In the seven-hour meeting, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi about potential repercussions if Beijing backs Moscow in the war, according to a US official who briefed reporters afterward.
“We do have deep concerns about China’s alignment with Russia,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “The national security adviser was direct about those concerns and the potential implications and consequences of certain actions.”
The official declined to offer any details about the reports related to potential Chinese support for Moscow.
Will China heed US, European calls to help restrain Russia in Ukraine?
The Russian invasion of its smaller neighbour is in its third week, and while talks between the two governments continue, the carnage has intensified.
The EU has repeatedly asked for China’s assistance to end the war. Foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell has said that “it has to be China”, given the close relationship between the two authoritarian states.
“There is no alternative. We [Europeans] cannot be the mediators, that is clear … And it cannot be the US either. Who else? It has to be China, I trust in that,” Borrell said last week in an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Mundo.
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares spoke with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Monday and asked him “to exert China’s influence over Russia to bring an end to its war against Ukraine”, according to a Spanish statement.
But Beijing has shown little appetite to get directly involved. A string of statements from senior officials have expressed “regret” over the “return of war to Europe” but no commitment to using its clout to negotiate a ceasefire.
At the same time, however, Chinese state media and government representatives have parroted Kremlin lines blaming the US and Nato’s “eastward expansion” for the invasion.
In recent days, influential Chinese officials have also given credence to a debunked narrative that the US is building a military biological programme in Ukraine.
China risks isolation ‘if it doesn’t distance itself from Russia’
At a UN Security Council meeting on Friday, Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jun said the relevant parties should accept multilateral verification. “China has noted with concern relevant information released by Russia,” Zhang said, according to China’s permanent mission to the UN.
Diplomats from EU member states have poured scepticism on the prospect of China acting as a mediator.
“In the end it boils down to whom Ukraine accepts a neutral go-between and the timing,” said one envoy. “China is neither neutral nor is the timing right.”
Additional reporting by Jacob Fromer
