US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday expressed strong concerns about China’s support for Russia’s defense industry and questioned Beijing’s sincerity in seeking peace in Ukraine.
He met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Friday.
“When Beijing says that, on the one hand, that it wants peace, it wants to see an end to the conflict, but on the other hand is allowing its companies to take actions that are actually helping Putin continue the aggression, that doesn’t add up,” Blinken said at a media briefing.
Beijing said it has not supplied Russia with weapons for use in Ukraine.
Blinken, however, said China has provided about 70% of machine tools and 90% of microelectronics that Moscow needs for military production, including rockets and armored vehicles.
I really hope there is more gamesmanship going on behind the scenes at his office than ‘this doesn’t add up’. But I’m a little skeptical because just game this thing out:
The west claims to 100% support Ukraine yet so far have only done enough to be sure they can stay in the fight. Not enough to outright win. What do outside observers do with that info? If I was China I would absolutely see this as hesitation on the part of the west and recognize that until the west actually does go all in, this will be a source of instability that I can build on to increase my influence in the world. So of course I’m going to play both sides as much as I can get away with, at least until there’s a indication that the west’s stance on this is changing.
Not to mention they watched this play out over 3 years. Even without the goal of influence, they just watched the US profiteer on dated NATO surplus sold to Ukraine.