The United States is “certain” that China is thinking about supplying deadly equipment to back the Russian soldiers invading Ukraine.
And while they have seen no sign Beijing has done so yet, they reiterated the US message this weekend that China should not cross that red line.
According to CIA director William Burns, “We’re confident that the Chinese leadership is considering the provision of lethal equipment” to Russia.
“We also don’t see that a final decision has yet been made,” he continued, “and we don’t see indications of actual shipments of lethal equipment.”
During the past week, US officials have begun a broad diplomatic offensive to warn China against offering such lethal support, which experts say could have a significant impact on the Ukrainian War as it enters its second year.
Beijing so far has forcefully denied the allegations.
Reports have cited unidentified US officials as claiming China is studying whether to deliver drones and certain munitions to Russia.
According to the German weekly Der Spiegel, Beijing and Moscow are in talks with a Chinese company about potentially buying 100 strike drones for use in Ukraine.
Earlier this month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken had a contentious encounter with Wang Yi during a tense meeting in the margins of the Munich security conference.
Wang met with President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday in Moscow, highlighting the strong connections between their two nations.
Chinese corporations, according to US authorities, are already giving Russia non-lethal equipment.
The US national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, visited the morning talk shows on Sunday to reaffirm Washington’s warnings.
He said the United States would remain “vigilant” about Chinese military supplies to Russia and that there would be consequences should Beijing send lethal weaponry.
“We will continue to send a strong message that we believe that sending military aid to Russia at this time… would be a bad mistake, and China should want no part of it,”
Sullivan noted that the war in Ukraine poses “real complications” for Beijing, but he reiterated that a decision to help arm Russia would “come at real cost to China.”
