WASHINGTON, USA
A United States official said Russia asked China for military equipment to use in its invasion of Ukraine, a request that heightened tensions about the ongoing war ahead of a Monday meeting in Rome between top aides for the US and Chinese governments.
In advance of the talks, White
House national security adviser Jake Sullivan bluntly warned China to avoid
helping Russia evade punishment from global sanctions that have hammered the
Russian economy. “We will not allow that to go forward,” he said.
The prospect of China offering
Russia financial help is one of several concerns for President Joe Biden. A US
official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said
that in recent days, Russia had requested support from China, including
military equipment, to press forward in its ongoing war with Ukraine. The
official did not provide details on the scope of the request. The request was
first reported by the Financial Times and The Washington Post.
The Biden administration is
also accusing China of spreading Russian disinformation that could be a pretext
for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces to attack Ukraine with chemical
or biological weapons.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
has put China in a delicate spot with two of its biggest trading partners: the
US and European Union. China needs access to those markets, yet it also has
shown support for Moscow, joining with Russia in declaring a friendship with
“no limits.” In his talks with senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Yang
Jiechi, Sullivan will indeed be looking for limits in what Beijing will do for
Moscow.
“I’m not going to sit here
publicly and brandish threats,” he told CNN in a round of Sunday news show
interviews. “But what I will tell you is we are communicating directly and
privately to Beijing that there absolutely will be consequences” if China helps
Russia ?backfill? its losses from the sanctions.
“We will not allow that to go
forward and allow there to be a lifeline to Russia from these economic
sanctions from any country anywhere in the world,” he said.
In brief comments on the
talks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian did not mention
Ukraine, saying that the “key issue of this meeting is to implement the
important consensus reached by the Chinese and US heads of state in their
virtual summit in November last year.”
“They will exchange views on
China-US relations and international and regional issues of common concern,”
Zhao said in comments posted on the ministry’s website late Sunday.
The White House said the talks
will focus on the direct impact of Russia’s war against Ukraine on regional and
global security.
Biden administration officials
say Beijing is spreading false Russian claims that Ukraine was running chemical
and biological weapons labs with US support. They say China is effectively
providing cover if Russia moves ahead with a biological or chemical weapons
attack on Ukrainians.
When Russia starts accusing
other countries of preparing to launch biological or chemical attacks, Sullivan
told NBC’s “Meet the Press,” “it’s a good tell that they may be on the cusp of
doing it themselves.”
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby,
on ABC’s “This Week,” said “we haven’t seen anything that indicates some sort
of imminent chemical or biological attack right now, but we’re watching this
very, very closely.”
The striking US accusations
about Russian disinformation and Chinese complicity came after Russian Foreign
Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova alleged with no evidence that the US was
financing Ukrainian chemical and biological weapons labs.
The Russian claim was echoed
by Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, who claimed there were 26
bio-labs and related facilities in “which the US Department of Defense has
absolute control.” The United Nations has said it has received no information
backing up such accusations.
White House press secretary
Jen Psaki called the claims “preposterous.” There is growing concern inside the
White House that China is aligning itself with Russia on the Ukraine war in
hopes it will advance Beijing’s “vision of the world order” in the long term,
according to a person familiar with administration thinking. The person was not
authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
China has been one of few
countries to avoid criticising the Russians for its invasion of Ukraine.
China’s leader Xi Jinping hosted Putin for the opening of the Winter Olympics
in Beijing, just three weeks before Russia invaded on February 24.
During Putin’s visit, the two
leaders issued a 5,000-word statement declaring limitless friendship.
The Chinese abstained on UN
votes censuring Russia and has criticized economic sanctions against Moscow. It
has expressed its support for peace talks and offered its services as a
mediator, despite questions about its neutrality and scant experience mediating
international conflict.
But questions remain over how
far Beijing will go to alienate the West and put its own economy at risk.
Chinese officials have said
Washington shouldn’t be able to complain about Russia’s actions because the US
invaded Iraq under false pretenses. The US claimed to have evidence Saddam
Hussein was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction though none was ever found.
Sullivan is also to meet Luigi
Mattiolo, diplomatic adviser to Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, while in
Rome.
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