China’s support for Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine by providing technology for missiles and other weapons is a “big mistake,” said US Ambassador to Beijing Nicholas Burns.
In a speech in the Chinese financial center of Shanghai, Burns also said the Russian invasion, now in its third year, had become an “existential crisis” in Europe.
He said that despite its claims of neutrality, China has sided with Russia, providing a range of technologies.
“We believe it is a huge mistake to allow thousands of Chinese companies to send so many components, technology components, microprocessors (and) nitrocellulose to Russia to reinforce and strengthen the defense industrial base of the Russian Federation for this brutal war,” Burns added.
China “is not neutral, but it has effectively sided with Russia in this war,” the ambassador said, adding that the decision directly contradicted China’s long-standing insistence on “sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
The Chinese government insists it does not provide direct military aid to Russia, but has maintained strong trade ties throughout the conflict, along with visits between President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Beijing is also a major buyer of Russian oil and gas, providing a lifeline for Moscow’s war economy, which is under international sanctions. Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, China and Russia signed an agreement pledging unlimited friendship.
China has refused to refer to the invasion as such and has blamed NATO for provoking Putin.
There was no immediate Chinese reaction to Burns’ comments, which came during a seminar on Sino-US relations focused on the life of Henry Kissinger, who died last year.
Relations between Washington and Beijing remain strained over trade, territorial disputes and Taiwan’s autonomous island democracy. The United States maintains close political and military relations with Taiwan despite its lack of formal diplomatic ties out of deference to Beijing.
China claims the island as its own territory that can be annexed by force if necessary. In recent days he has threatened to persecute the “unconditional” supporters of the island’s continued independence and condemn them to death.
There was no indication of how he intended to act in the face of the threat.
