According to an American daily newspaper, citing anonymous officials, Russia has asked China to provide it with military equipment for the war and economic aid to help it overcome international sanctions.
Russia has asked China for economic and military assistance to fight the war in Ukraine and circumvent Western sanctions, the New York Times reported Sunday, as Washington warned Beijing against helping Moscow.
LIVE – War in Ukraine: Talks resume Monday morning as war rages in the West
According to an American daily newspaper, citing anonymous officials, Russia has asked China to provide it with military equipment for the war and economic aid to help it overcome international sanctions. These officials did not elaborate on the exact nature of the assistance requested or China’s response. “I’ve never heard of this,” a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington told several media outlets.
US-China meeting on Monday
News reports emerged on Monday as US national security adviser Jake Sullivan is scheduled to meet with Yang Jiechi, the Chinese Communist Party’s top diplomatic official, in Rome on Monday. The two officials and their teams “will discuss ongoing efforts to manage competition between our two countries and discuss the impact of Russia’s war against Ukraine on regional and global security,” White House National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne said. Press release.
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“We are closely monitoring the extent to which China provides material or economic assistance to Russia in one way or another,” Jake Sullivan told CNN on Sunday, adding that “it worries us.” “And we made it clear to Beijing that we will not stand by and allow any country to compensate Russia for the losses due to economic sanctions” imposed since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, he insisted. “There are bound to be consequences if there are significant actions to circumvent sanctions,” Jake Sullivan warned.
Since the invasion began on February 24, the Chinese communist regime, in favor of friendship with Moscow, has refrained from calling on Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Ukraine. If he helps Russia, “China will face severe sanctions and become a pariah; a refusal would leave open the possibility of cooperation “with the West,” tweeted U.S. diplomat Richard Haas of the Council on Foreign Relations think tank.