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Anonymous officials have alleged that China is developing and testing attack drones similar to Iranian Shahed UAVs for Russia.
Knewz.com has learned that the U.S. and its allies have already warned China against showing support for Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
The use of kamikaze drones has become crucial in the Ukraine war, with Volodymyr Zelensky's forces carrying out successful strikes against high-value Russian targets using cheaply manufactured Ukrainian drones.
Recently, a Ukrainian First-Person-View (FPV) drone decimated a Russian tank - believed to be a T-72 - with video footage showing the expensive war machine up in flames.
Dmytro Lysenko, a drone pilot with the 109th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, said in a statement to Kyiv Post that while Russia fires artillery shells and other munitions at them, the drones at Ukraine's disposal are a force to be reckoned with.
"A shell can fly and miss, and that’s it. But a drone pilot aims and will be very accurate when they drop an explosive," Lysenko told the outlet.
China and Russia reportedly held talks in 2023 about collaborating on the development of Shahed-like attack drones, although the Xi Jinping administration has been publicly maintaining neutrality in the conflict.
Anonymous Western officials recently told Bloomberg that China has allegedly begun the development and testing of attack drones meant for Russia.
While Russia has been using Shahed drones in the Ukraine war since the beginning and has even established a factory to mass-produce the attack drones, the officials are worried that China might be able to replicate the technology of Shahed at a much higher rate.
Chinese military websites and several other media outlets have also stated that the nation is developing a new kamikaze drone named the Sunflower 200, which looks similar to the Shahed 136 drone from Iran, Bloomberg noted.
On the other hand, an American official told the outlet that, according to the current U.S. understanding of the situation, China is deliberating "whether to send fully built unmanned aerial vehicles, but in the meantime is sending kits that can be converted into attack drones."
"The US still doesn’t conclude that China is sending lethal aid to Russia, the person said, while acknowledging that other nations may have a different interpretation," Bloomberg wrote.
It is worth noting that directly providing weapons and artillery to Russia would immediately impose strict sanctions on China and could trigger other forms of direct actions against the second-largest economy in the world.
Notably, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement back in May 2024 that China had not yet been seen directly providing weapons to Russia. Bloomberg further wrote that Chinese President Jinping had reportedly given President Zelensky his word regarding the same at the 2024 G7 Summit.
Liu Pengyu, the spokesman for the Chinese embassy in the U.S., said in a statement that the nation does not provide weapons to either party involved in the Ukraine war, and "strictly controls exports of dual-use articles."
"On the Ukraine crisis, it is quite clear to the international community who is calling for dialogue and striving for peace, and who is fueling the fight and inciting confrontation... We urge the relevant countries to immediately stop fueling the fight and inciting confrontation," the spokesperson said, via Bloomberg.
However, Julianne Smith, the U.S. Ambassador to NATO, said in a statement to Bloomberg Television on July 2:
"China takes every effort, every chance it can get to argue that somehow it’s a neutral player in this war in Ukraine, but in reality the PRC [People's Republic of China, the official name of the nation] is providing a long list of dual-use components, things like machine tools and microelectronics that are enabling Russia to pursue this war of aggression in Ukraine."
"Here inside NATO, we’re making sure that we can expose the fact that the PRC is no longer a neutral player and warn China about the risk of getting behind Russia in this unprovoked war of aggression," Smith added.
