China has assured the United States and other countries that it won’t supply Russia lethal aid that could be used against Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on June 19.
Blinken, the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Beijing since President Joe Biden took office in 2021, said there was no evidence suggesting that the Chinese regime has transferred weapons or provided lethal aid to Russia.
Blinken acknowledged that Beijing had provided similar assurances “in recent weeks,” not just during his visit.
However, the U.S. diplomat said there were concerns about Chinese firms providing Russia with technology that could be used against Ukraine and urged the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to be vigilant on that.
“What we are concerned about is private companies in China that may be providing assistance, in some cases dual use, in some cases clearly directed at enhancing Russia’s military capacity in Ukraine,” he said.
“That is a concern, and it’s something that I pointed out to our Chinese counterparts and urged that they be vigilant in policing that,” Blinken added.
Such a decision, he said, would indicate that Chinese communist authorities seek to destroy Ukraine outright, and would needlessly extend the continued suffering and death of innocent Ukrainians.
“Broadly speaking, what you would be seeing is a country like China, which clearly has advanced capabilities and munitions, [and] which has publicly declared its neutrality, to now take a side and say ‘we want to be in the camp that’s looking to extinguish Ukraine as a nation,’” Ryder said.
US Won’t Provide Technology to China
Blinken said that Washington will not provide China access to its technology due to national security concerns. He made clear that the decision was not aimed at cutting economic relations with China.“At a time when it’s engaged in a buildup of its nuclear weapons program in a very opaque way, when it’s producing hypersonic missiles, when it’s using technology for repressive purposes against its own people, how is it in our interest to provide those specific technologies to China? And other countries feel the same way,” he added.
Asked why Washington would want to continue engaging with China despite the apparent unwillingness to have open military communications from the other side, Blinken argued that such efforts are necessary to make changes happen.
“We’re not going to have success on every issue between us on any given day, but in a whole variety of areas—on the terms that we set for this trip, we have made progress, and we are moving forward,” he said.
Relations between the United States and China have soured over several issues, including Hong Kong and particularly Taiwan, a self-governing island that China regards as its own and has vowed to seize by any means necessary.
