Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping has yet to decide whether to grant Russia’s request for weapons to use against Ukraine, according to U.S. officials.
“Our message to the [People's Republic of China] has been consistent: They would decide to provide lethal assistance or to provide systematic assistance to Russia in its sanctions evasion at their own peril,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters Thursday. "It would come with costs and consequences from the United States, from the international community.”
Xi’s regime has maintained a policy of neutrality throughout the war while accusing NATO powers of “adding fuel to the fire” through their efforts to arm Ukraine to repel the Russian invasion over the last year. China’s lead foreign policy official renewed Beijing’s promise not to send weapons to Russia, but Western officials are taking the pledge with a grain of salt.
“To the extent China is trying to engage in a charm offensive these days, to re-engage with other countries as it comes out of COVID, I don’t think it wants to be in the business of further alienating them by providing lethal support to Russia,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg earlier Thursday. “The jury’s out. We’re watching it very, very carefully. We’ll see how they react.”
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Yet Chinese officials have faulted Western officials for urging them not to arm Russia as U.S. officials have circulated warnings that Beijing might open its arsenals to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We can easily imagine that the ‘intelligence’ the U.S. referred to is most likely chasing shadows and smearing China,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Thursday. “We have promoted peace talks in our own ways and played a responsible and constructive role in easing tensions and alleviating the crisis. The U.S. is the biggest source of weaponry for the battlefield in Ukraine, yet it has kept smearing China by falsely claiming that China might offer weapons to Russia.”
China’s critiques of Western aid to Ukraine drew a direct rebuttal from Germany at the United Nations on Thursday.
“We did not want this war. We did not choose this war. We, too, would much rather focus every bit of our energy and our money on fixing our schools, on fighting the climate crisis, on strengthening social justice,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said. “But the truth is: If Russia stops fighting, this war ends. If Ukraine stops fighting, Ukraine ends. The human suffering would continue: abduction, rape, torture, children counting to 45 every single day to save their lives. The war’s global trail of devastation would continue: inflation, energy shortages, hunger.”
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Such rebukes from U.S. allies in Europe could prove persuasive, Blinken’s team hopes. “What we are trying to do here is to ensure that the Chinese understand that this would be a complete step change not only in how they are viewed globally and their claims of neutrality but also in our relationship with China and that it matters hugely to us,” State Department Undersecretary Victoria Nuland told the Washington Post’s David Ignatius during a separate event Thursday. “We’ve already made clear that we’re prepared to sanction Chinese companies ... so we are watching very, very carefully, and this is not something that can be done under the carpet while China professes to be neutral.”