China weighs sending drones, ammunition to Russia for Ukraine war

“We haven’t seen them supply lethal assistance to Russia yet but we besides person noticed that they haven’t taken it disconnected nan table,” Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Friday.

If China sends Russia weapons, it could change nan fighting connected nan ground, tipping nan conflict successful favour of Moscow — a reality nan U.S. and its European friends person worked to debar pinch hundreds of billions of dollars successful weapons shipments.

The news comes aft U.S. officials successful caller days downgraded nan classification level of intelligence connected China’s reasoning to stock it pinch friends crossed nan world, successful an effort to unit Beijing to backmost disconnected immoderate plans to nonstop weapons to Russia. Since then, officials wrong nan Biden management person debated releasing that intelligence to nan public, a 3rd personification acquainted pinch nan matter said. All of nan individuals were granted anonymity to speak freely astir delicate nationalist information matters.

The Wall Street Journal was nan first to report nan details of China weighing sending drones and ammunition.

The U.S. has antecedently warned China astir sending lethal assistance to Russia. In a gathering pinch China’s apical diplomat astatine nan Munich Security Conference, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he told Wang Yi that specified a move would severely impair nan negotiated narration betwixt Washington and Beijing. Washington has sent different warnings successful negotiated conversations complete nan past respective weeks, arsenic POLITICO antecedently reported.

The National Security Council declined to remark connected nan grounds for this story.

“We person said publically and privately that location person been indications that nan Chinese were considering nan imaginable lethal assistance but we’ve besides said that we haven’t seen them make that determination aliases move successful that direction,” John Kirby, spokesperson for nan NSC said successful a briefing pinch reporters Friday. “And we surely don’t want them to.”

U.S. officials person for months tracked China’s shipment of non-lethal, dual-use items to Russia, Blinken said successful a speech pinch The Atlantic past week. He did not supply specifications of those shipments. Dual-use items could scope from thing from laptops and telecommunications instrumentality to craft parts typically utilized for civilian purposes.

“There has been immoderate … dual-use type support coming from quote-unquote Chinese companies, that almost surely was approved by nan state,” Blinken said.

The U.S. earlier this period sanctioned a slew of Chinese companies for supporting Russia’s aggression successful Ukraine, including a outer company, Spacety, that nan management says provided imagery to Moscow for usage by nan Wagner Group.

Alex Ward and Lara Seligman contributed to this report.