NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the military alliance had seen “some signs” that China might be planning to support Russia in its war in Ukraine and urged Beijing to refrain from violating international law.
Stoltenberg also told The Associated Press in an interview that the alliance, while not a belligerent, will support Ukraine “for as long as necessary.” He spoke to The AP in Warsaw after a meeting of NATO’s nine eastern flank members with US President Joe Biden on regional security.
When asked if NATO had any indication that China might be willing to support Russia’s war with arms or other support, Stoltenberg said, “We’ve seen some signs that they’re planning to do this, and of course it was NATO Allies to warn the United States that this shouldn’t happen. China should not support Russia’s illegal war.”
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Stoltenberg said potential Chinese aid would amount to “(direct) support for a blatant violation of international law, and of course China (as) a member of the UN Security Council should in no way support a violation of the UN Charter or international law.” Law.”
On Saturday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Blinken had said in an interview with CBS News’ Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan that China was actively considering providing deadly support, including arms and ammunition, to help Moscow in its war to help against Ukraine. But Blinken was only speaking in general terms about the type of lethal aid the Chinese are considering.
“There’s a whole range of things that fit into this category, everything from ammo to the guns themselves,” he said.
Notably, China’s top foreign policy chief Wang Yi told other leaders at the Munich Security Conference this week that China was working on a peace proposal to end the conflict. This public position contradicts the information provided by the US Secret Service.
Blinken emphasized, “We have seen that they have provided non-lethal support to Russia for the operation in Ukraine.” He continued, “The concern we have now is based on information we have that they are considering to provide deadly support and we made it very clear to them that doing so would cause serious problems for us and in our relationship.”
On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin received the Chinese Communist Party’s top foreign policy leader – Wang Yi – and expressed concerns in the West that Beijing might be ready to offer Moscow stronger support in the nearly year-long war.
China has explicitly refused to criticize the invasion of Ukraine while repeating Moscow’s claim that the US and NATO are to blame for the Kremlin’s provocation. China, Russia and South Africa are conducting naval exercises in the Indian Ocean this week.
But State Department adviser Derek Chollet said the US had determined that China had not yet decided to provide lethal aid to Russia.
“In our estimation, they haven’t made that decision at this point,” Chollet told CBS News contributor Michael Morell on his Intelligence Matters podcast this week. “But there is increasing evidence that they are concerned. And that is important to us.”
Stoltenberg stressed that while NATO is “not a party” in the Ukraine conflict, its role is to “ensure Ukraine is victorious” and “to prevent this war from escalating beyond Ukraine and into a full-fledged war between Russia and NATO will”.
He said the main message of the Warsaw meeting was that “we will support Ukraine for as long as it takes”.
It would be a “tragedy for Ukrainians if President Putin wins in Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said, and also “dangerous for all of us” because “it would send the message to all authoritarian leaders that they get something if they use military force apply you want.”
The Russian attack on Ukraine has prompted Sweden and neighboring Finland to abandon decades of non-alignment and apply to join the 30-nation alliance. But their offers – especially Sweden’s – are being delayed by Turkey, which wants the two countries to crack down on mainly Kurdish groups that Ankara considers terrorists.
Stoltenberg told the AP that after last week’s talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, he could see Turkey “getting closer to being ready to ratify and (too) welcome Finland.” But (Ankara continues) having some challenges with Sweden. “
He said he welcomed the fact that he and Erdogan had soon arranged a meeting “of experts and officials in Brussels” from the three countries involved “to examine how we can also move forward in ratifying Sweden as a full NATO ally “.
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