According to US media reports, Russia has asked China for help in the war of aggression in Ukraine. The media, citing Washington government circles, reported that Moscow had asked Beijing for both military aid for the war and economic aid to fight Western sanctions. However, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said, “I’ve never heard of that.”
The reports came just hours following the White House announced that a senior US delegation would meet with a top Chinese official in Rome today. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Chinese Communist Party chief diplomat Yang Jiechi “will discuss ongoing efforts to manage competition between our two countries and discuss the regional and global security implications of Russia’s war on Ukraine,” one said Spokeswoman for Sullivan on Sunday.
Beijing has repeatedly refused to condemn Russia for the war in Ukraine. The friendship with Moscow is “rock solid”. In addition, China had repeatedly criticized the eastward expansion of NATO, which Russia cited as one of the reasons for the war. At the same time, Beijing had indicated its willingness to mediate in the war.
Speaking on a US talk show Sunday, Sullivan said the US government would “closely monitor” whether and how China supports Russia. “We are concerned regarding this and have told Beijing that we will not stand by while any country compensates Russia for losses from economic sanctions,” he told CNN.
Sullivan said that while he did not want to make “threats” once morest rival China, “we are telling Beijing face-to-face and privately that there will definitely be consequences for evading sanctions on a large scale.”
