Concern continues to grow among NATO countries, gathered in Washington to celebrate their 75th anniversary, regarding China’s military support for Russia. The subject will be at the heart of discussions this Thursday, July 11, between the world’s most powerful alliance and its Asia-Pacific partners (Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand), its members announced. On Wednesday evening, they already issued a statement expressing their “deep concerns” regarding the strategic partnership that continues to strengthen between Moscow and Beijing. “China is decisively helping Russia in its illegal war of aggression against Ukraine,” denounced NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Because according to NATO, China is responsible for providing dual-use equipment, both civilian and military, to Russia, which allows Moscow to “produce missiles, bombs, planes and weapons.” But what exactly does this military aid consist of?
Already in April, a senior American official accused – anonymously and to AFP – Beijing of selling Chinese electronic components, machine tools and explosives to Moscow, while “Chinese and Russian entities are working to jointly produce drones” on Russian soil. China is thus said to be supplying Russia with drone engines and propulsion systems for cruise missiles, as well as nitrocellulose, a material used by Russia to manufacture artillery munitions.
“70% of machine tools in Russia come from China”
In detail, the information available to the Biden administration shows that in the last three months of 2023, “more than 70% of Russia’s machine tool imports came from China”, which, according to them, has allowed the Russians to increase their production of ballistic missiles. This figure was confirmed in an interview given by Antony Blinken to the BBC in early June, who added that “90% of the microelectronic products imported by Russia come from China”. “These components are being used to help Russia in what is an extraordinary accelerated training effort to make more munitions, tanks, armoured vehicles and missiles”, the US Secretary of State said at the time.
According to an analysis of Chinese customs data by the Carnegie Endowment think tank and seen by the BBC, “Beijing exports more than $300 million worth of dual-use goods to Russia each month, meaning they have both commercial and military applications.” Several Chinese companies have been implicated by US intelligence: Dalian Machine Tool Group, iRay Technology and North China Research Institute of Electro-Optics are said to be doing business with Russia, while Wuhan Global Sensor Technology, Wuhan Tongsheng Technology and Hikvision are, according to the US, supplying optical systems used in Russian tanks, for example.
Potential sharing of satellite images
“We also know that China is providing reconnaissance imagery to Russia for its war against Ukraine,” the official said. RUSI, a UK-based think tank, has also warned of the potential use of Chinese satellite technology to gain intelligence on Ukraine’s frontline, the BBC reports.
For US officials, “one of the most decisive ways to help Ukraine today is to convince China to stop helping Russia rebuild its military-industrial base.” For its part, China denounced this Thursday, July 11, a NATO statement “marked with a Cold War mentality and bellicose rhetoric,” according to the spokesperson for the Chinese mission to the European Union (EU). “NATO should stop making noise about a so-called Chinese threat, stop inciting confrontation and rivalry, and contribute more to peace and stability in the world,” he stressed, denouncing remarks “filled” with “slander.”