US discovers China is selling equipment to Russia for war in Ukraine

China has increased sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and other technologies that Moscow in turn uses to produce missiles, tanks, planes and other weapons for its war against Ukraine , according to an American assessment.

Two senior Biden administration officials, who discussed the sensitive findings Friday on condition of anonymity, said that in 2023, about 90% of Russian microelectronics came from China, which Russia has used to make missiles, tanks and planes. Nearly 70% of the roughly $900 million in Russian machine tool imports in the final quarter of 2023 came from China.

Chinese and Russian entities are also working to jointly produce unmanned aerial vehicles in Russia, and Chinese companies are likely supplying Russia with nitrocellulose used in munitions manufacturing, the officials said. Chinese companies Wuhan Global Sensor Technology Co., Wuhan Tongsheng Technology Co. Ltd. and Hikvision supply optical components for use in Russian tanks and armored vehicles.

The officials said Russia received military optics for use in tanks and armored vehicles made by Chinese companies iRay Technology and the North China Electro-Optics Research Institute, and that China had supplied Russia with drone engines and turbojets for its cruise missiles.

Russian semiconductor imports from China rose from $200 million in 2021 to more than $500 million in 2022, according to Russian customs data analyzed by the Free Russia Foundation, a development advocacy group. of civil society.

Beijing is also working with Russia to improve its satellites and other space capabilities for use in Ukraine, a development that officials say could, in the long term, increase the threat Russia poses across Europe. The officials, citing downgraded intelligence findings, said the United States also determined that China was providing footage to Russia for its war against Ukraine.

The officials discussed the findings as Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to travel to China this month for talks. Blinken is due to travel to next week's Group of Seven foreign ministers meeting in Capri, Italy, where he is expected to raise concerns about China's growing indirect support for Russia as Moscow reorganizes its army and seeks to consolidate its recent gains in Ukraine.

President Joe Biden has already raised concerns directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping about Beijing's indirect support for Russia's war effort.

Although China has not provided direct, lethal military support to Russia, it has supported it diplomatically by accusing the West of provoking Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to start war and by abstaining from to call it an invasion out of deference to the Kremlin.

China has repeatedly said it does not provide weapons or military assistance to Russia, even though it maintains strong economic ties with Moscow, alongside India and other countries, in a context of sanctions from Washington and its allies.

“Normal trade between China and Russia should not be hindered or restricted,” said Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington. “We urge the US side to refrain from denigrating and scapegoating the normal relations between China and Russia.”

Xi met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Beijing on Tuesday, who praised Xi's leadership.

Russia's growing economic and diplomatic isolation has made it increasingly dependent on China, its former rival for leadership of the communist bloc during the Cold War.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, returning to Washington this week after a visit to Beijing, said she had warned Chinese officials that the Biden administration was prepared to sanction Beijing's Chinese banks, businesses and leaders. They were assisting the Russian armed forces in their ongoing invasion of Ukraine. .

The Democratic president issued an executive order in December giving Yellen the power to sanction financial institutions that aided Russia's military-industrial complex.

“We remain concerned about the role that companies, including those from the PRC, play in Russian military purchases,” Yellen told reporters, using the initials of the People's Republic of China. “I stressed that companies, including those from the PRC, must not provide material support to the Russian war and that they will face significant consequences if they do. And I insisted that all Banks that facilitate large transactions that move military or dual-use goods to Russia's defense industrial base face the risk of U.S. sanctions.”

The United States has frequently degraded and exposed intelligence findings about Russia's plans and operations during the more than two-year-old war with Ukraine.

These efforts have included highlighting Russian disinformation operations plans or drawing attention to Moscow's difficulties in pursuing its war against Ukraine as well as its coordination with Iran and North Korea to provide him with essential weapons. Blinken highlighted intelligence last year showing that China was considering supplying weapons and munitions to Russia.

The White House believes that the public release of intelligence findings has led China, at least for now, not to directly arm Russia. China's economy has also been slow to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. Chinese officials may be sensitive to the reaction in European capitals, which have maintained closer ties with Beijing even as U.S.-China relations have become more complicated.

Meanwhile, China announced rare sanctions on Thursday against two U.S. defense companies for what it called their support for arms sales to Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy that Beijing claims as its own territory to be reclaimed by China. force if necessary.

The announcement freezes assets of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and General Dynamics Land Systems held in China. It also bans company executives from entering the country.

Records show that General Dynamics operates a half-dozen Gulfstream and jet aviation services operations in China, which remains heavily dependent on foreign aerospace technology even as it attempts to establish its own presence in the field.

The company also helps manufacture the Abrams tank purchased by Taiwan to replace obsolete armor intended to deter or resist a Chinese invasion.

General Atomics produces the Predator and Reaper drones used by the US military.