The US has said it believes China may be about to provide lethal aid to help Russia in the war in Ukraine, prompting a direct warning against doing so from the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, to China’s top diplomat.
Blinken made the warning to the Chinese state councilor Wang Yi on Saturday evening at a meeting on the sidelines of the Munich security conference during which he also rebuked China over the use of an alleged spy balloon over US soil.
The Guardian reported that in a blunt meeting, he also urged China to stop helping Russia evade the impact of sanctions.
China’s trade with Russia is increasing and it has been buying Russian oil, but probably below the US$60 per barrel price cap imposed by the EU and G7 group of states.
Blinken told US networks that the US had information China was considering whether to give Russia assistance, possibly including guns and weapons, for the Ukraine war.
“The concern that we have now is, based on information we have, that they’re considering providing lethal support,”
Blinken told CBS’s Face the Nation shortly after he met with Wang. “And we’ve made very clear to them that that could cause a serious problem for us and in our relationship.”
Blinken told NBC’s Meet the Press that China has not yet crossed the line of providing lethal assistance but he would be putting out evidence soon to show how Beijing was seriously considering providing Russia with equipment including weapons
He said of his meeting with Wang there was no apology from China about the spy balloon over US soil.
“This was an opportunity to speak very clearly and very directly about the fact that China sent a surveillance balloon over our territory, violating our sovereignty, violating international law. And I told him quite simply that that was unacceptable and can never happen again.”
The US believes China may already be providing some surveillance information to the Wagner group, the mercenary wing that works alongside the Russian army.
Kamala Harris, the US vice-president, in her speech to the security conference, warned China against providing lethal equipment to a country that she said the US had judged was committing crimes against humanity.
But Harris in her remarks did not assert that such lethal aid was about to be provided.
The US warnings about China’s intentions come in the context of a Chinese proposal to reveal a peace plan for Ukraine in a speech by the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, coinciding with the 24 February anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Wang revealed the intention to launch the plan in his speech to the security conference on Saturday and has been briefing leaders from France, Germany, and Italy on China’s intentions, possibly in a bid to drive a wedge between EU states and the US.
