US official: Russia seeking military aid from China
A U.S. official said Russia asked China for military equipment to use in its invasion of Ukraine, a request that heightened tensions about the ongoing war.
OTTAWA, March 25: US President Joe Biden has claimed that China has not supplied arms to Russia after the start of the Ukraine war. He said that for the past three months, he has heard the news that China has supplied arms to Russia, but Beijing has not yet done so.
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KYIV, Feb. 28: Ukraine's head of military intelligence has brushed aside claims that China is considering furnishing arms to Russia, telling US media that he saw no "signs that such things are even being discussed".
Senior US officials have said as recently as
BEIJING, Feb. 24: China called on Friday for Russia and Ukraine to hold peace talks as soon as possible, while insisting that nuclear weapons must not be used in their conflict.
Beijing's foreign ministry made the comments in a document on the "political settlement" of the crisis, timed to coincide with the one-year anniv
SEPT 19: US President Joe Biden has again said the US would defend Taiwan in the event of an "unprecedented attack" by China.
Speaking in a CBS interview, Mr Biden replied "Yes" when asked if that meant US forces would defend Taiwan.
The interview aired on Sunday, prompting the White House to reiterate that US policy had not changed.
Washington's policy has always been one of "strategic ambiguity" - it does not commit to defending Taiwan, but also does not rule out the option.
Taiwan is a self-ruled island off the coast of eastern China that Beijing claims as part of its territory. Washington has long walked a diplomatic tightrope over the issue. On the one hand it adheres to the One China policy, a cornerstone of its relationship with Beijing.
Under this policy, Taiwan is a part of China and the position is not challenged. So the US does not recognise it as a separate state and has no diplomatic ties with the island. But it maintains close relations and sells arms to Taiwan under the Taiwan Relations Act, which states that the US must provide the island with the means to defend itself.
Mr Biden reiterated this in the CBS 60 Minutes interview on Sunday.
"There's a One-China policy and Taiwan makes their own judgements on their independence. We are not moving, not encouraging their being independent - that's their decision," he said.
Mr Biden had made similar comments in May, vowing to intervene militarily to defend Taiwan if it was attacked. The White House had quickly followed up by saying there was no departure from America's long-standing policy.
This time too the White House has issued a statement that appears to contradict Mr Biden: "The President has said this before, including in Tokyo earlier this year. He also made clear then that our Taiwan policy hasn't changed. That remains true."
But this is the third time in a year that President Biden has gone further than the official stance in indicating a promise of military action - in October 2021 and then again in May this year.
Earlier this month, the US agreed to sell $1.1bn (£955m) in weaponry and missile defence to Taiwan, provoking anger from China.
Tensions between US and China ramped up after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a controversial visit to the island in August - a trip Mr Biden had said was "not a good idea".
In response, Beijing staged a five-day military blockade around Taiwan. The US claims it shot missiles over the island, but Beijing did not confirm this and Taiwan said the missiles China fired flew high into the atmosphere and posed no threat.
Elsewhere in the pre-recorded interview broadcast on Sunday, Mr Biden warned Russia not to use chemical or tactical nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine.
Amid the Russia-Ukraine war, rising tensions between China and Taiwan and other global issues, the US Air Force on Tuesday tested an unarmed nuclear-capable long-range missile.
MARCH 14: Unnamed officials reportedly told multiple US news outlets that Russia asked China to provide military assistance after it began the invasion.
The Chinese embassy in Washington said it was not aware of this request.
The warning comes ahead of a meeting in Rome on Monday between top US and China officials.
Since the start of the crisis Beijing has expressed strong rhetorical support for long-time ally Moscow, but is not publicly known to have provided any military or economic support.
However local media outlets citing US officials, say that Russia has in recent days asked China specifically for military equipment, including drones. China's response to that request is not known.
In a CNN interview, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said they were "communicating directly, privately to Beijing that there will absolutely be consequences for large-scale sanctions evasion efforts or support to Russia to backfill them.
"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 added that while the US believed China was aware that Russian leader Vladimir Putin was "planning something" before the invasion happened, Beijing "may not have understood the full extent of it".
"Because it's very possible that [Mr] Putin lied to them the same way that he lied to Europeans and others," Mr Sullivan said.
Mr Sullivan is due to meet Yang Jiechi, a member of China's top decision-making body the Politburo and the head of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, on Monday in Rome.
Reuters news agency quoted a US official as saying that during the meeting Mr Sullivan will spell out the consequences and isolation China would face if it increased support for Russia.
China so far has refrained from condemning Russia for the invasion, and has said Moscow's "legitimate security concerns" should be taken seriously.
Chinese state media and government officials, besides echoing Russia's official line that it is a "special military operation" and not an invasion, have also been repeating Russian disinformation claims about the war in recent days.
But Beijing at the same time has expressed "unwavering support" for Ukraine's sovereignty. It has also called for peace, and has said it is ready to help end the war through diplomacy. Several countries have urged China to do more to stop Russia's invasion.
The EU and US help Ukraine, China helps Russia; if that's how this goes, then it's a delineation that will make the war in Ukraine an even more consequential one.
The White House has decided to make public its claim just as President Biden's top security adviser is due to meet with China's most senior diplomat. It appears to be a tactical move, to put pressure on China; presumably to either confirm or deny it.
The bigger aim could be to try to make Xi Jinping weigh up the pros and cons to his current position of what was last week called a "rock solid" relationship with Moscow.
Remember that it was just weeks ago, as the Winter Olympics opened in Beijing, that Presidents Xi and Putin declared a new alliance that had "no limit". Military aid could, clearly, be part of that.
But in the days after Russia's invasion China has condemned the UK, the US and others for giving weapons to Ukraine's military, saying they were adding "fuel to the fire".
If the US intelligence assessment is correct and Beijing follows through on that request, then they too would be "adding fuel".
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