Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that if the Chinese government supplies the Russian army with lethal weapons, the United States and several countries will be forced to sanction companies of Chinese origin and businessmen who support the Russians to the third face of the offensive with Ukraine that has been going on for more than a year.
Blinken reiterated that the US government issued these warnings after US intelligence authorities determined that China is still evaluating the possibility of providing military support to the government of Vladimir Putin. “We will not hesitate, for example, to target Chinese companies or individuals who violate our sanctions,” Blinken told a C5+1 meeting in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.
According to recent investigations by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Chinese government is evaluating sending weapons to Russia, but despite the fact that its director William Burns said he had evidence of this decision, everything indicates that Beijing has not finished giving a point of closure to the logistical-military support to its commercial allies in Moscow.
Although this new position of the Chinese does not seem to be consistent with their attitude towards Ukraine. Since last February 24, Beijing has expressed its support for agreeing to peace between the two countries, which has been described as a positive gesture by Ukrainian President Volodirmir Zelensky.
However, Federal Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, one of the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) closest to the Ukrainians, stated that this plan “does not contemplate the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian soil”, a of the conditions that Kiev has set to sit down for a dialogue with Moscow.
Even so, Zelenski was interested in the Chinese proposal and since the end of last week he expressed his interest in holding a meeting with his counterpart, Xi Jinping “as soon as possible”. “China started talking about Ukraine and that’s not bad. It seems to me that there is respect for our territorial integrity, security issues,” Zelenski said after learning of China’s new intentions.
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