U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on the 22nd that although China has strengthened diplomatic support for Russia, it has not yet provided substantial military assistance.
“When we talk now, we don’t see them crossing that line,” Blinken told a Senate Appropriations Committee questioned by lawmakers on whether China had provided “lethal aid” to Russia.
Blinken has repeatedly warned publicly in the past few weeks that China is considering providing arms aid to Russia. There are also some reports that Chinese companies have delivered a limited number of weapons to Russia.
Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Moscow earlier this week to discuss China’s proposed ceasefire in the war between Russia and Ukraine. The claim has been met with skepticism by the United States, which fears the Russian military will use the ceasefire to regroup damaged troops.
“I think the diplomatic support, the political support, the kind of physical support that they’re giving Russia is of course once morest our interest in ending this war,” Blinken said.
Blinken pointed out that China is “very cautiously” observing how the US government and the world respond to Russia’s aggression once morest Ukraine. China will learn from experience as to whether the world is united once morest this aggression. He said that allowing Russia to attack its neighbors with impunity would “open a Pandora’s box” for potential aggressors and lead to “a world of conflict”.
Blinken also said the stakes in Ukraine extend far beyond its borders, with far-reaching ramifications in Asia, for example, where Japan and South Korea have been key Ukrainian backers in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Blinken said the United States is encouraging other countries to extradite Russian President Vladimir Putin when he visits because the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for him.
“I think that the member states of the ICC who have obligations should do so,” he said.
The U.S. is not a member of the ICC, and former President Donald Trump’s administration sanctioned the court’s prosecutors over its investigation of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan.
In addition, Trump announced his withdrawal from UNESCO in 2019 on the grounds that it was biased once morest Israel. Blinken called on Congress to agree to pay $150 million in dues to allow the United States to rejoin UNESCO. “China is now the largest single donor to UNESCO, and they carry a lot of weight. They are setting the rules, norms and standards for artificial intelligence. We want to be able to participate,” he said.
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