NATO leader blasts China for helping Russia while courting West: ‘You can’t have it both ways’
WASHINGTON – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg ripped Chinese leaders Monday for publicly claiming to support Ukraine in its war against Russia, but quietly backing Moscow and sending it military supplies.
“China is fueling the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II,” Stoltenberg said during an event at the Wilson Center in DC. “At the same time, it wants to maintain good relations with the West.
“Well, Beijing cannot have it both ways.”
Since Russia’s invasion began in February 2022, China has publicly stated its desire for peace and maintained a publicly neutral position.
As recently as June 3, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning claimed Beijing “values its strategic partnership with Ukraine.”
“Since the full escalation of the Ukraine crisis, China has maintained communication and cooperation with Ukraine,” she said. “China is still Ukraine’s largest trading partner. Our Embassy in Ukraine continues to function normally.”
However, China is also Russia’s largest trading power – a position that has been solidified after dozens of countries around the world sanctioned exports and imports to and from Russia.
While China claims it has not sent Russia any weapons for use in Ukraine, US officials say Beijing has rendered the distinction meaningless by supplying Moscow critical technological components for war.
“Publicly, [Chinese] President Xi [Jinping] has tried to create the impression that he’s taking a back seat in this conflict to avoid sanctions and keep trade flowing,” Stoltenberg said Monday.
Beijing has also sent material that is used in the production of weapons, including “missiles, tanks [and] aircraft,” according to the NATO chief.
“Beijing is sharing high-end technologies, like semiconductors or dual-use items. Last year, Russia imported 90% of its microelectronics from China,” he said. “China is also working to provide Russia with improved supplied capability and imagery.
“All of this enables much death and destruction on Ukraine, bolsters Russia’s defense industrial base and evades the impact of sanctions and export controls.”
The US has taken notice, sanctioning seven China-based companies last week for shipping millions of dollars worth of material to Russia, including items which could be used in weapons systems.
“This idea that we can distinguish between the threats we see in Europe posed by Russia and the threats and the challenges of Xi in the Asia-Pacific posed by China – that we can separate those is wrong,” Stoltenberg said. “Our security is global, not regional, and that’s very clearly demonstrated in Ukraine.”
China has said it respects Ukraine’s territorial integrity – an argument Beijing uses to justify its illegal claims on large swaths of land in the South China Sea, including Taiwan.
However, China has neither pushed Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin to return Crimea to Ukraine nor implored his proxies to restore the eastern Donbas region to Kyiv.
China has also made other pro-Moscow moves, including pushing a controversial peace plan last year that would have seen Ukraine submit to Russian demands with little gained in return.
The US decried the mooted truce, with National Security Council spokesman John Kirby saying that while a peace plan “may sound good … any proposals from [China] … would be one-sided and reflect only the Russian perspective.”
This past weekend, China snubbed a peace summit held in Lucerne, Switzerland that was attended by representatives of more than 100 nations and international organizations.
Beijing declined an invitation after learning that Moscow would not be represented.
“China has repeatedly stressed that the international peace conference needs to meet the three important elements – namely, recognition from both Russia and Ukraine, equal participation of all parties and fair discussion of all peace plans,” Mao said. “As far as China is concerned, the meeting does not yet seem to meet these three elements and that is exactly why China would not be able to take part in the meeting.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told summit attendees Saturday that he hoped Russia – and by extension, China – would attend the next iteration of the event.
