The CIA director said on Sunday he was confident China was considering supplying weapons to Russia in its offensive in Ukraine, but had no indication that a decision had been made as to whether that material had been transferred.
“We are confident that China’s leadership is considering supplying lethal material to Russia,” Burns said in an interview with CBS.
But he added that he does not know that a final decision has been made and that he has no evidence of arms transfers to Russia.
The United States has for a week accused China of considering supplying Russia with arms to support its offensive in Ukraine, which Beijing denies.
According to press reports, including the Wall Street Journal, it mainly concerns ‘drones’ and ammunition.
The head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, spoke directly to China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, at a tense meeting Saturday in Munich, on the sidelines of a security conference.
Washington believes China is already supplying non-lethal materials to Russia through Chinese companies.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan, for his part, assured CNN today that the United States remains vigilant in this regard and reaffirmed Washington’s warning to Beijing about the consequences of an arms delivery to Moscow.
“We will continue to send a strong message that sending military aid to Russia at this time would be a big mistake and that China should not do that,” he said.
According to Sullivan, the war in Ukraine poses “serious complications” for the Chinese, but if Beijing decides to supply arms to Moscow, it would come at a “real cost”.
China called for a ceasefire on Friday, the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, arguing that dialogue was the only way to reach a viable solution to the conflict, in a 12-point proposal.
The plan, released by China’s foreign ministry, also called for an end to Western sanctions against Russia, measures to ensure the safety of nuclear facilities, the establishment of humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians, and actions to curb the export of guaranteed grain. after supply disruptions pushed prices up globally.
The plan was devalued by most Western countries, pointing to the closeness between China and the Kremlin, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted to meeting his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, recalling that China “respects the territorial integrity of countries ‘ and ‘must do everything possible’. to remove Russia” from Ukraine.
In an interview with Lusa on Friday, the foreign minister defended that China is in a balancing act regarding the conflict in Ukraine and that if it supplies arms to Russia, Portugal and the European Union, relations with Beijing.
Over the past year, China has avoided condemning Russia for its military campaign in Ukraine, accusing NATO and the United States of fomenting this conflict and “disregarding Moscow’s legitimate security concerns”.
Source: DN
