Beijing is “picking a side” and can’t claim to be neutral any more, the US ambassador to NATO tells POLITICO.
China is helping Russia meet its war goals in Ukraine by continuing to sell supplies such as drone technology and gunpowder ingredients to Moscow, the U.S. Ambassador to NATO said in an interview.
“The PRC [People’s Republic of China] cannot claim to be entirely neutral in this case, [and] they are in fact picking a side,” Julianne Smith told POLITICO on Tuesday. “I think when the PRC tries to portray itself as neutral, when it comes to this war, we don’t buy it.”
Smith said the United States was “increasingly seeing materiel support” from China to Russia, adding that this equipment — which can have both civilian and military uses — had played a critical role in helping Moscow achieve some of its aims against Ukraine.
China gave a solid 1.5 year buffer because they too saw Russia fumbling and probably expected NATO to finish the job when the war started.
Instead they just witnessed 2 years of profiteering on 90s surplus military technology and hindering Ukraine’s ability to fight.
Now that Russia has proved its half stable and not going anywhere, China will happily sell whatever to them as long as the profit is stable.
Although its also funny how both sides are using a ton of DJI drones which China “allegedly” stopped selling.
China’s accurately balancing it’s profits. It can sell much more products to it’s primary markets if it gets resources from Russia and get some bonus on also selling sanctioned or illegal stuff with a huge margin. Can NATO or other structure condition it to back off a little? Probably yes since a lot of banks started to slow down or deny processing payments from russian corporations. Can it stop it completely? Probably not, but with every new barrier, the russian economy suffers from underdelivery and overpaying for a banal stuff.
NATO economies are probably much more profitable for China. If NATO wanted to get serious about supporting Ukraine we would be sanctioning not only Russia, but also countries that don’t sanction Russia. China and India would quickly change their policy on Russian trade.
Till there is petroleum in Russia neither China nor India is going to change their relationship with Russia. I don’t think even European nations have completely stopped relying on Russia for their energy needs.
Trump has started a trade war with China for no reason and Biden didn’t stop it either. China has no interest in doing favours to the West.
And China trade is profitable for NATO countries. Is China not sanctioning Russia expensive enough, in terms of additionally needed support to Ukraine, to warrant the massive global fallout that such a move could have?
If you ask me such a move would be too principled for its own good. Everyone, literally everyone, is busy fucking Russia one way or the other right now for the simple reason that Russia now is a beggar, not a chooser. Are they sanctioning as hard no but in the end it still amounts to significant pressure and it’s the total impact, duration, and steadfastness that counts, not the symbolism.
Also China isn’t right-out helping Russia like NK does, if they did they’d be sending over tanks instead of literal golf carts.
Yeah China isn’t thinking economically here, they’re thinking geopolitically. The smart choice would’ve been to back Ukraine, which is in line with their positions on sovereignty, and then criticize the US on Palestine now from a moral high ground. It would’ve also created closer economic ties with the West, and cemented a rivalry status versus an adversary status.
Both China and Russia don’t seem to understand that the world order has changed. You don’t become a superpower or powerful nation by conquering land or being aggressive military. You have to achieve economic dominance, which China actually was doing rather successfully. Their antagonism has spurred economic development in other areas now.
That isn’t to say that military power is useless. But it’s more powerful when it’s used as soft power, not an actual conquering army.
In case the US has forgotten, China is selling key technology like drones to Ukraine, too. If that’s not staying neutral and not picking a side, I don’t know what is. The US wants China to pick the US side, not stay neutral. In fact, China currently has a trade deficit with Ukraine.
In February 2024, China exported $221M and imported $477M from Ukraine, resulting in a negative trade balance of $256M.
https://www.wsj.com/world/how-american-drones-failed-to-turn-the-tide-in-ukraine-b0ebbac3
Yeah but those uncomfortable facts get in the way of making china look scary for the next red scare
Does that make this a proxy war?
Weird to think of Russia as a puppet in a proxy war. They used to be puppet masters but oh how the mighty have fallen.
Putin cares about power. He probably thinks Russia can turn on China and destroy them too.
Not sure why you’re getting downvoted.
Surely Putin thinks that. It’s not true, but I’m sure he thinks Russia is that powerful.
Removed by mod
Smith was speaking shortly before U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits China on Wednesday. He’s expected to warn Chinese officials not to provide aid to Russia.
Or else they’re going to get a very stern talking to.
As is iran, north korea, hungary, turkey…
Just like the US supports israell invasion of Palestine.
The pot calling the kettle black.
I don’t disagree with you actually. It’s wrong for China to be helping Russia here, and it’s wrong for the US to be helping Israel. They aren’t the exact same scenarios, so there are differences, but the US and China are both doing the wrong thing in these individual scenarios. Ideally China would stop trade with Russia and the US would also stop aiding Israel. Not one or the other. It’s good for the two countries to call each other out on these.
As a side note, writing this comment did make me realize one big difference between the two situations. The US has widespread protests against the Israel aid policy, especially at universities. I haven’t heard of any similar protests in Chinese society or universities regarding Russia, but I also don’t tend to consume Chinese news. That, and the Chinese government is not as welcoming of protest like this (which says a lot, considering the US isn’t exactly either). Do you know if there’s any dissent in China?
Uhh… so?
Nato is clearly supporting Ukraine too and neither is out of character. Does it suck for Ukraine - absolutely. But this should surprise no one.
Removed by mod
One side clearly is the aggressor here. To pick their side is not a good look and makes other countries question China’s intentions.
Ok, so what do you think about the US siding with and funding Israel?
Removed by mod
US is an aggressor to China right now with all import/export bans. There’s no way in hell they will change their policies unless the US removes these bans.
China isn’t communist. China, Russia, USA et al integrated fascism as their system and now fight each other for power. This is just one alignment
Communism is fascism.
Fascism can disguise itself as communism but communism can’t exist in fascism
Removed by mod
Mods can’t stand the truth, I see…
Removed by mod
Inspect that bullshit a little if you’d like to be more informed. Fascists are always infighting and even any temporary alliances will be betrayed
The same reason Franco didn’t join in during WWII despite being a fascist.
Removed by mod
