China sending Russia ‘rifle scopes, tank parts and rocket fuel’
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China has ramped up support for the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine by sending rifle scopes, tank components, rocket fuel and satellite images to Russia, US officials have said.
Their warning came on the eve of a two-day mission to China by Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov to discuss the Ukraine war.
US officials told Bloomberg on condition of anonymity that Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, briefed European allies this week on China’s increased support for Russia.
They also said that China was sending microelectronics, propellants used in missile production and turbojet engines to Russia, sidestepping Western sanctions.
Vladimir Putin has courted China heavily since his invasion but Beijing has appeared reluctant to be seen propping up his military. Now, with Russia taking ground in eastern Ukraine, that appears to have changed.
Russia is outgunning Ukrainian forces across the front lines because the West has struggled to supply promised ammunition. By contrast, the Kremlin has switched consumer-based factories to arms manufacturing and signed deals with Iran and North Korea for supplies of drones and artillery shells.
Analysts said China may have moved to a policy of quietly supporting the Kremlin’s war machine because it now views Russia as having the upper hand.
“Beijing doesn’t give arms because it fears US secondary sanctions and wants to develop EU relations, but still silently supplies machinery that’s important for Russia to sustain its arms production,” said Carl Bildt, co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank and a former Swedish prime minister.
The Kremlin has previously said that Putin plans to visit China in May. On a trip to Moscow last year, Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping declared a “no limits” partnership.
US-led sanctions on Russia have hit the Kremlin’s industrial base but they have also been more leaky than planners had hoped.
One of the main gateways for products into Russia is through former Soviet states in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, which buy products from the West and then sell them on to Russia, but Hong Kong has also become an important route for vital microchips.
The US has already slapped secondary sanctions on several Chinese companies and Janet Yellen, US treasury secretary, has warned China of the “significant consequences” of backing Putin.
“We’ve been clear with China that we see Russia as gaining support from goods that China, Chinese firms are supplying to Russia,” she said during a trip to Guangzhou.
But Jessica Berlin, a non-resident fellow at the Centre for European Policy Analysis think tank, said that China may have heard this warning too many times and decided that it’s hollow.
“They’ve observed the US response to smaller, discrete support for Russia for two years and conclude that they have little to no consequences to fear,” she said.
Since Europe cut ties with Russia over its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Kremlin has increasingly looked to China as its main economic partner.
China is Russia’s largest gas client and the Russian Central Bank now keeps most of its international reserves in yuan. It said that last year the yuan became the most traded currency in Russia, whereas before the war it had barely been used. It has also encouraged currency swaps with China to outmanoeuvre Western financial sanctions.
