US Raises Alarm on China’s Possible Lethal Aid to Russia

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks during a daily press briefing in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington on Nov. 2, 2022. Oliver Contreras/Getty Images

The Biden administration is concerned that communist China may deliver lethal aid for Russia’s war of conquest against Ukraine, and is reportedly considering declassifying and releasing intelligence about the issue.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which rules China as a single-party state, has not yet provided Russia with direct military aid but also has not ruled such contribution out, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

“As we have said, we haven’t seen China provide this kind of support yet, but they haven’t said it’s off the table,” Jean-Pierre said during a Feb. 23 press briefing.

“We’re going to continue monitoring this and speak out when needed.”

The remarks follow a tense week in trilateral relations between the United States, China, and Russia, following an allegation by Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the CCP was considering providing lethal aid to the Kremlin.

“There’s a whole gamut of things that fit in that category,” Blinken said during a Feb. 19 interview with CBS. “Everything from ammunition to the weapons themselves.

“We have seen them provide non-lethal support to Russia for use in Ukraine. The concern that we have now is based on information we have that they’re considering providing lethal support, and we’ve made very clear to them that that would cause a serious problem for us and in our relationship.”

To that end, the Biden administration is allegedly considering declassifying and releasing the intelligence it has on the issue, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal, which cited unnamed government officials.

The internal debate on whether to publicly disclose such information comes just a day ahead of a U.N. Security Council meeting, which will mark the anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and follows multiple behind-the-scenes attempts by the United States and its allies to sway the CCP away from providing lethal aid to Russia.

Jean-Pierre demurred, however, when asked directly if and when the White House intended to declassify such intelligence.

“I’m certainly not going to get ahead of the intelligence community; that is something that is clearly at this time classified,” she said.

“It’s in conversation with the intelligence community as well when we speak to these classified matters.”

It is unclear at this time what types of weapons or munitions China would provide Russia with, though the regime is the second-largest purveyor of arms in the world after the United States.