China’s ‘Tacit Support’ for Russia in Ukraine Crisis ‘Deeply Alarming’: Pentagon

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby holds a news briefing at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, on Feb. 14, 2022. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Beijing gave Moscow “tacit support” in the Ukraine standoff, the Pentagon said on Feb. 14, calling the Chinese action “deeply alarming.”

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby sounded the alarm during a press briefing on Monday, as Russia has positioned about 130,000 troops, as well as tanks and artillery, near Ukraine’s border.

“Their tacit support, if you will, for Russia is deeply alarming,” Kirby said about China. “And frankly, [it’s] even more destabilizing to the security situation in Europe.”

Kirby pointed to a Sino-Russia joint statement released by the two countries on Feb. 4, following a meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in China’s capital Beijing.

“Their February 4 joint statement certainly provided further evidence that China has decided that they’re going to stand alongside Russia with respect to what’s going on in Europe.”

“The statement itself leads in our view as tacit support,” he added.

China and Russia accuse unnamed actors of interfering “in the internal affairs of other states,” while opposing “further enlargement of NATO.” The statement also claims that the two nations enjoy a strong relationship since “friendship between the two States has no limits” and “there are no ‘forbidden’ areas of cooperation.”

The statement goes on to assert that the current Sino-Russia relations “are superior to political and military alliances of the Cold War era.”

Two days after Xi and Putin met, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned that Beijing would “end up owning” some of the costs if China is seen as supporting a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“We believe that Beijing will end up owning some of the costs of a Russian invasion of Ukraine and that they should calculate that as they consider their engagements with the Russian government over the next couple of weeks,” Sullivan told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Feb. 6.

Sullivan added that sanctions against Russia would impact China “because they will go at the financial system of Russia, which, of course, engages the Chinese economy as well.”

Also at the briefing, Kirby announced that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is going to visit Belgium, Poland, and Lithuania.

In Belgium, Austin is scheduled to meet with allied defense ministers and NATO leadership to discuss “Russia’s military buildup in and around Ukraine,” as well as in Belarus and Russia-annexed Crimea.

Also on Monday, White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a daily briefing that they are “in the window when an invasion could begin at any time.”

“We will not comment on any details of our intelligence information except that—except to say that it could begin this week, despite a lot of speculation that it would happen after the Olympics,” she said.

“It remains unclear which path Russia will choose to take,” she added. “The path for diplomacy remains available if Russia chooses to engage, again, constructively.”

State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters on Monday that there has not been “any tangible, any real sign of de-escalation” at the Ukraine-Russia border.