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China increased its support for Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine in 2025 and is likely to deepen cooperation with Moscow further this year, Western officials said, casting doubt on efforts by European leaders to improve relations with Beijing.<\/p>\n
President Xi Jinping has become more assertive and confident in his supporting Russia\u2019s Vladimir Putin, and attempts by the Europeans to persuade their Chinese counterparts to help end the war have become more challenging over the past year, the officials said.<\/p>\n
Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine wouldn\u2019t be able to continue without ongoing Chinese support, particularly the export of dual-use components and critical minerals used in Russian drone production, the officials said. They described Beijing as the key facilitator of the war.<\/p>\n
\u201cChina could call Vladimir Putin and end this war tomorrow,\u201d US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said during a panel late Friday at the Munich Security Conference. \u201cThis war is being completely enabled by China.\u201d<\/p>\n
The private assessments, shared with Bloomberg on condition of anonymity, are more pessimistic than most Western leaders\u2019 public statements on China\u2019s role in the Russia-Ukraine war.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Foreign Minister Wang Yi gave an address to the Munich conference in which he reiterated his country\u2019s position on Ukraine, saying China is not a party that\u2019s directly involved and \u201cdoesn\u2019t have the final say\u201d on any political settlement. Instead, Beijing was continuing to press for peace talks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cChina will, in our own way, give our full support for the peace process,\u201d Wang said.<\/p>\n
In a meeting with Wang at the conference, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Berlin expects Beijing to use its influence over Russia and push Moscow towards ending its war in Ukraine, according to people familiar with the talks.<\/p>\n
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius also called out China for supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMoscow is not acting alone. It is pursuing its revisionist agenda by cooperating with China, Iran, and North Korea,\u201d Pistorius told an audience in Munich on Saturday. \u201cIt is trying to use international fora such as BRICS and turn them into anti-Western blocs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wang also met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha. China has sought to maintain cordial relations with Ukraine despite its refusal to condemn Putin\u2019s action in the conflict. Wang told Sybiha that Xi \u201cactively supports peace talks,\u201d according to the official Xinhua News Agency.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cChina never stirs up trouble or takes advantage of situations for its gain, nor accepts shifting blame or shirking responsibility,\u201d the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chinese officials may have initially been concerned by the economic impact of Russia\u2019s war but they have since come to the view that it benefits Beijing because it means Europe is focused on Ukraine rather than Asia, and relations between Europe and the US have become strained, the people said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese frank reflections on China\u2019s integral role in providing the materials that support Russia\u2019s war machine beg the question of how sustainable it is to keep up the pretense that China can be a trusted or serious trading partner for the UK,\u201d said Sam Goodman, a senior policy director at the China Strategic Risks Institute.<\/p>\n
European leaders have overlooked their misgivings about China\u2019s role in prolonging the war to improve relations with Beijing in the face of trade tensions with US President Donald Trump. French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited China for meetings with Xi in recent weeks, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is due in Beijing later this month. Trump is also expected to meet Xi in China in April.<\/p>\n
European leaders have argued that only by engaging with Xi can they hope to influence his position on security issues. Still, they have also used their visits to Beijing to pursue closer trade ties.<\/p>\n
China has helped blunt the effects of Western sanctions since the earliest days of the war, buying Russian oil and selling dual-use goods to its neighbor. A Bloomberg News investigation last year\u00a0reported\u00a0how Moscow had capitalized on its friendly ties with Beijing to skirt Western sanctions and acquire the know-how and capability to build drones to attack Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Trade between the two sides has increased to $253 billion in 2024 from $152 billion in 2021. Over that period, Russia rose to China\u2019s fifth-largest trading partner from its 10th.\u00a0<\/p>\n
China and Russia have a long and complicated relationship, drifting from allies to bitter rivals during the Cold War before Xi came to power in 2012 and struck up a personal relationship with Putin. While the Western officials said suspicions lingered between Beijing and Moscow, they assessed that their incentives to work together outweighed their differences.<\/p>\n
Still, Wang reaffirmed China\u2019s view that \u201cthe legitimate security concerns of all countries should be taken seriously,\u201d a reference to Russia\u2019s claims that it has been forced to counter NATO expansion on its Western flank.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
#China #expanding #aid #Russias #war #Western #officials<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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