Julian Borger, Foreign Affairs Editor of The Guardian, talks about the state of affairs between the US, China and Russia.
The United States will try convince China not to supply weapons to Russia at a high-level meeting in Rome that the White House considers critical not only to the war in Ukraine, but also to the future global balance of power.
Jake Sullivan, US national security adviser, will meet with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi in the Italian capital. reports that Russia asked China for weapons to support their hesitant invasion of Ukraine.
Sullivan will point out that the US informed Beijing of Vladimir Putin’s intentions months before the invasion, but the Chinese leadership ignored those warnings, mistakenly believing Putin was bluffing to gain leverage, according to sources familiar with the plans for the Rome meeting. Sullivan will also argue that if China supplies weapons to Moscow, it will be another historical mistake and a turning point in world politics.
The White House is seeking to prevent a war in Ukraine that would further solidify the division of the world into two opposing blocs. In an interview with CNN, Sullivan said:
We are also closely monitoring the extent to which China actually provides any kind of support – material or economic – to Russia.
This is our concern. And we informed Beijing that we will not stand by and allow any country to compensate Russia for its losses from economic sanctions.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, China last month. Photo: SPUTNIK/Reuters
Sullivan said the US had made it clear to Beijing that a “large-scale” effort to help Russia bypass sanctions “is bound to have consequences.”
Russia has also asked China for economic assistance as it faces heavy Western sanctions, but Sullivan told CNN the US is “bluntly, privately telling Beijing that there will be absolutely consequences” if China helps Russia evade sanctions.
The Financial Times, the New York Times and the Washington Post reported on Sunday about Russia’s arms request amid US officials saying the Russian military is short of some weapons.
Liu Penyu, a spokesman for the US embassy in Washington, told CNN that he had “never heard” of Russia’s arms requests.
“The current situation in Ukraine is really worrying,” he said in a statement. “Now the paramount concern is to prevent the tense situation from escalating or even spiraling out of control.”