U.S. Accuses China of Aiding Russia's War Effort

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By RFE/RL staff – Sep 21, 2024, 2:00 PM CDT

The U.S. has accused China of providing substantial aid to Russia’s war effort, including military technology.
China and Russia conducted large-scale joint military drills in the Pacific and other regions.
The growing partnership between China and Russia raises concerns about their influence in the Pacific and beyond.

The United States accused China of providing “very substantial” aid to Russia’s war effort as Beijing and Moscow wrapped up massive naval and air drills spanning both hemispheres.

Here’s what’s going on.

Finding Perspective: U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell told a group of journalists in Brussels on September 10 that Beijing was no longer supplying just dual-use goods that could be repurposed for military use but was now working explicitly to “help sustain, build, and diversify various elements of the Russian war machine.”

“We’re seeing efforts at the highest levels of both governments to try to both hide and protect certain elements of this worrisome collaboration,” Campbell said.

In return, the senior official said Moscow had begun to provide Beijing with access to submarine, missile, and other closely guarded military tech it has historically resisted giving to China.

“The capabilities that Russia is providing is support in areas where previously they had been frankly reluctant to engage directly with China,” Campbell said. “We are concerned about a particular number of military arenas where there appears to be some determination to provide China with greater support.”

The accusations are the most unambiguous comments yet from a U.S. official about how deeply China and Russia are cooperating militarily and the growing extent of Beijing’s help for Moscow’s war effort.

Expanding The Scope: The new technologies that Campbell claims Russia is now sharing with China could also have a major effect in the Pacific, which was part of the focus from the recent “Ocean-24” exercises.

The naval and air drills spanned the Pacific and Arctic Oceans and the Mediterranean, Caspian, and Baltic seas while consisting of over 400 warships, submarines, and support vessels, more than 120 planes and helicopters, and over 90,000 troops.

The exercises began on September 10 and finished on September 16.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in comments to military officials that the war games are the largest of their kind in three decades, and that China’s warships and planes were taking part. China confirmed this, saying the two countries’ navies would sail together in the Pacific, but gave no details.

Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said the drills were aimed to train “repelling large-scale aggression of a potential enemy from ocean directions, combating unmanned boats, unmanned aerial vehicles, defending naval bases, conducting amphibious operations and escorting transports.”

Why It Matters: Both announcements highlight how the two countries are growing closer and crossing what were once deemed red lines.

This also points to the widening scope and symbiotic nature of China and Russia’s ties.

The joint exercises help Moscow’s long-cherished goal of building up its bonafides as a Pacific power, and Russia benefits from tensions in the Asia-Pacific because they distract the United States from paying full attention to Europe.

Similarly, China benefits from the war in Ukraine, as American resources and attention are diverted from being more solely focused on the Asia-Pacific.

At the recent Xiangshan Forum in Beijing, both Chinese and Russian defense officials took swipes at the West, with Russia saying the United States was shifting military conflicts to the Asia-Pacific.

There are still clear limits to the Beijing-Moscow relationship, especially for how China has approached navigating U.S. sanctions, but with neither on course to dial back their tensions with Washington, the two countries are set on a path of expanding partnership.

By RFE/RL

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