U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and China's senior foreign affairs official Yang Jiechi met in Rome on Monday.. Official statements following the results were very sparse, given that they talked for seven hours in a row about tense US-China relations and the war in Ukraine..
It is no coincidence that shortly before the meeting, the US government announced that Russia at the end of February asked Beijing not only for economic support to compensate for losses due to Western sanctions, but also for military assistance.. Washington wanted to increase political pressure on China's friendly approach to Russia in the war against Ukraine. Beijing has rejected all suspicions, writes Die Zeit. However, US officials have warned allies in Europe and Asia that Russia has asked China for five types of military equipment, including surface-to-air missiles, drones, armored vehicles, logistics and intelligence equipment.. And the Chinese government allegedly signaled its readiness to help the Russian army, which, in general, may not mean anything at first. The German publication notes that it is not yet clear from US data whether China wants to help Russia in the future, or whether it has already begun to do so..
Die Zeit notes that Russian interest in Chinese weapons is not difficult to understand. In the end, Moscow completely underestimated the strength of the Ukrainian army. But the question is whether China is ready to start deliveries?
On the one hand, the Chinese government has more or less openly supported Vladimir Putin. Since the beginning of the war, Beijing has made only vague statements about the need to seek a peaceful solution, while refusing to condemn Russia for invading Ukraine.. China also officially accuses the US and NATO of bloodshed and speaks with " China also criticized Western economic sanctions. In addition, Beijing refuses to use the word “invasion”, preferring Russian words about “military operation”. And state media repeats Russian fiction about “neo-Nazis”.
Russia is waiting for economic rescue from China.
On the other hand, it is the Russian desire to obtain weapons from China that surprises. Because everything happened just the opposite. China has been an old buyer of Russian weapons, namely fighter jets and surface-to-air missiles.. Moscow supported Beijing in the development of new weapons. But, experts say, China has not yet sold its defense systems to Russia.. Therefore, according to Alexander Gabuev of the Carnegie Moscow Center, information about Russian weapons requests at the end of February may not so much relate to the current Putin war, but to ancient Russian-Chinese military cooperation.. Moscow is especially interested in Chinese attack drones. But it will be months before the first shipments are ready to ship..
One thing is certain: Putin really hopes that his friend Xi Jinping will save him from the consequences of sanctions. On Sunday, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told Russian state television that the West was pressuring China to limit trade with Russia.. But he is confident that relations with Beijing will continue to develop.. Russia Can't Now Use Its $300 Billion Reserves Blocked Due To Sanctions. Therefore, Moscow will not be able to fulfill some of its obligations and pay debts.
On the other hand, despite the warm friendship with the Russian president, it is very difficult to imagine Xi Jinping taking on the burden of Putin's war.. There are many reasons for such doubts.. First, Xi needs stability as he prepares for an important Communist Party convention this year.. China faces worst economic growth in 30 years in 2022. And rising prices for oil, gas and wheat due to Russian military adventures worry Beijing.
Open arms shipments will be a wreck.
For China, trade relations with the EU and the US or Japan and South Korea are much more important than with one-sided trade with Russia..
“If the Chinese government openly supplies weapons to Russia, it will no longer be able to carefully circumvent sanctions.. This will be an obvious position that will drag China into the war in Ukraine,” the newspaper writes..
The result of this will be a serious rupture of Chinese relations with the United States, and the Europeans will suffer the most from this.. Eastern Europe will be heavily militarized. NATO will be on one side, and Russia and China on the other. It is not known how far Xi Jinping will go on the issue of weapons against the backdrop of his joint geopolitical speeches with Putin against the leading countries.
“For Ukraine itself, the story of Russian requests for weapons is especially bitter.. Because without Ukrainian help, China's modern army might not exist at all.
. At least not now. In recent decades, Ukraine has supplied China with military technology that it could not obtain in other countries.. For example, the first Chinese aircraft carrier was purchased from Kyiv as an unfinished Soviet ship, ostensibly to create a casino on board. Chinese naval missile defense radars and modern aircraft engines also come from Ukraine. Therefore, it is bitter for Ukraine to see that China is now on the Russian side,” the article says..