US will implore Europe to help keep Chinese supplies from reaching Russian ‘war machine’ – Technologist

A senior US government official is set to urge European allies and industry leaders to take steps to prevent Russia from obtaining defence supplies from China that could substantially enhance its military operations against Ukraine.

On Friday, US deputy Treasury secretary Wally Adeyemo will tell German business leaders in Berlin that the US and Europe “must make the choice stark for China”.

“Chinese firms can either do business in our economies or they can equip Russia’s war machine with dual-use goods. They cannot do both,” he will say, according to excerpts released by the US Treasury Department on Thursday. “The Kremlin knows it can only meet its military goals with China’s assistance.”

Adeyemo will highlight Washington’s efforts to ensure US semiconductor manufacturers are vigilant in overseeing the use of their chips and preventing “transshipment” via third countries like China, saying that “every country in our coalition and every member of Nato must also consistently and clearly communicate to Beijing that it is unacceptable for the Chinese to abet the Russian military-industrial base.”

According to data from China’s customs department, trade between China and Russia surged to a record US$240 billion in 2023, an increase of over 64 per cent since 2021, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The US says the increase in imports includes dual-use goods, which are civilian products with military applications essential to the Russian war effort.

Adeyemo’s comments come after his visit to Kyiv this week, during which talked with his Ukrainian counterpart about implementing new strategies to counter Moscow’s efforts to evade US sanctions.

He said that in Berlin, he will talk about the fact the US and its partners “are going to be open to sanctioning any company or individuals that provide material support to Russia’s military industrial complex”, adding that key components were coming “particularly from China and other countries”.

A Chinese defence ministry spokesman called Washington’s allegations “baseless”, saying on Thursday that Beijing “always adopts a prudent and responsible attitude towards export of military products, strictly manages export of dual-use articles and does not deliberately protract wars for profiteering like the US”.

“More than 60 per cent of Russia’s exported weapon components and dual-use items come from Western countries,” said Wu Qian, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of National Defence.

On Tuesday, US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell briefed Nato counterparts in Brussels on Beijing’s assistance to Moscow through the provision of dual-use components.

Earlier this month, British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps disclosed at the London Defence Conference, an annual forum on security issues, that US and British military intelligence had uncovered “evidence Russia and China are collaborating on combat equipment for use in Ukraine”.

Shapps called the flow of “lethal aid” from China to Russia into Ukraine “a significant development”.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan distanced US President Joe Biden’s administration from those remarks, saying that “to date” it had not observed any plans for the delivery of lethal aid.

Sullivan said he looked forward to speaking with Britain to understand “better what exactly that comment was referring to”.

Wu, the Chinese defence ministry spokesman, said on Thursday that Shapps was trying to “instigate confrontation” with his “Cold War mentality”.