Ukraine, EU insists: “China supports Russia, stop this cooperation”

Brussels – The European Commission tries to raise its voice against the People’s Republic of China and its role in the conflict in Ukraine. After the EU’s High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, it is the turn of its spokesman, Anour El Anouni, to attack Beijing’s military support for Moscow. “We condemn the relations between China and Russia. We intimate the stop of this cooperation,” he said at the traditional press briefing. 

Brussels does not digest the commercial activism useful to further Russian military operations. “China is the main supplier of dual-use technologies,” civilian and military, such as drones and components, “which support Russia’s military-industrial base, Kallas’ spokesman further charges. “These technologies are then used on the battlefield” to fight regular Ukrainian forces and proceed with the offensive, El Anouni points out. They are assets with military applications,” he insists. 

There is no doubt within the EU executive that “without China’s support Russia could not continue its aggression with the same firepower“, acknowledges the High Representative’s spokesman. There is no beating around the bush: “We are deeply concerned” about this Sino-Russian alliance, the spokesman goes on.

 The concern is not only about the Russian-Ukrainian conflict itself and the return in terms of the balance of power in confrontations with Kyiv, especially with peace negotiations scenarios in the background, but the concern is also about regional alliances on an international chessboard suddenly far less predictable. In addition, there is concern that the EU’s admittedly decisive action vis-à-vis Russia’s allies may be less forceful than expected. With the thirteenth package of sanctions, Chinese companies have been subjected to restrictive measures, but evidently, it was not enough to stop the supply to the Russian military.