US Warns China Over Supplying Russia in Ukraine Conflict

(CTN News) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned that if China continues to supply Russia with items used in its assault on Ukraine, Washington will take action.

Speaking to the BBC in Beijing, the US’s top diplomat claimed he had informed his peers that they were “helping fuel the biggest threat” to European security since the Cold War.

He did not specify what measures the United States was willing to take.

However, Mr Blinken quickly pointed out that some progress had been made in certain areas.

He complimented Beijing for its efforts to prevent the supply of the narcotic fentanyl from reaching the United States.

“China Urged to Cease Providing Critical Components to Russia; US Prepared to Act”

China remains the primary supply of fentanyl in the United States, which the White House claims is generating a nationwide public health crisis.

Mr Blinken also stated that he believes Beijing can play a “constructive” role in the Middle East, referring to China leveraging “its relationship with Iran to urge” against further escalation in its conflict with Israel.

Mr Blinken’s second visit in ten months is part of a considerable increase in discussion and diplomacy between two opposing powers as they strive to restore calm after last year’s high tensions.

China’s claims over Taiwan and the South China Sea, along with US export limits on advanced technology, have soured relations between Washington and Beijing. They were further harmed by a dispute over a surveillance balloon in late February.

Recently, the United States approved legislation requiring Chinese-owned TikTok to sell the massively popular video app or face prohibition in the country, which Mr Blinken had stated did not come up during his meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping.

Mr Xi, who visited Mr Blinken on Friday afternoon in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, acknowledged that the two sides had “made some positive progress” since meeting with his US counterpart, Joe Biden, in November.

He added that the two nations should “be partners, not rivals,” and that if the US took a “positive view of China’s development,” relations could “truly stabilise, improve, and move forward.”

Mr Blinken told the BBC that one of the primary paths to “better relations” between China, the United States, and Europe would be for Beijing “or some of its enterprises” to stop providing “critical components” that let Russia manufacture more bombs. The components include “machine tools, micro-electronics, and optics”.

“It’s helping Russia perpetuate its aggression against Ukraine, but it’s also creating a growing threat to Europe because of Russia’s aggression,” he said, adding that it was “helping to fuel the biggest threat to [Europe’s] insecurity since the end of the Cold War”.

“We’ve already taken action against Chinese entities that are engaged in this,” he went on to say. And what I make clear today is that if China won’t act, we will.”

Mr Blinken, who mentioned sanctions as a possible solution, quickly emphasized that China was not directly supplying Russia with weaponry.

In an interview with the BBC, Mr Blinken stated that it is still necessary to see if the two countries can “build greater cooperation in areas where we have mutual interest,” such as artificial intelligence and military communications.