US intelligence finding shows China surging equipment sales to Russia to help war effort in Ukraine
WASHINGTON — China has dramatically increased sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and other technology that Moscow is in turn using to produce missiles, tanks, planes and other weaponry for use in the war against Ukraine, according to a US investigation.
Two senior Biden administration officials, who discussed the sensitive findings on condition of anonymity on Friday, said that in 2023 about 90% of Russian microelectronics came from China, which Russia has used to make missiles, tanks and planes. Nearly 70% of Russia’s roughly $900 million in machine tool imports in the last quarter of 2023 came from China.
Chinese and Russian entities have also been working on joint production of unmanned aerial vehicles in Russia, and Chinese companies are likely supplying Russia with nitrocellulose needed to make propellant weapons, the officials said. The China-based companies Wuhan Global Sensor Technology Co., Wuhan Tongsheng Technology Co. Ltd. and Hikvision supply optical components for use in Russian tanks and armored vehicles.
The officials said Russia has received military optics for use in tanks and armored vehicles manufactured by Chinese companies iRay Technology and the North China Research Institute of Electro-Optics, and that China has supplied Russia with UAV engines and turbojet engines for cruise missiles.
Russia’s imports of semiconductors from China rose from $200 million in 2021 to more than $500 million in 2022, according to Russian customs data analyzed by the Free Russia Foundation, a group that advocates for the development of civil society.
Beijing is also working with Russia to upgrade its satellite and other space-based capabilities for use in Ukraine, a development that officials say could increase the longer-term threat Russia poses to all of Europe. The officials, citing downgraded intelligence results, said the US has also determined that China is providing images to Russia for its war against Ukraine.
The officials discussed the findings as Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to travel to China for talks this month. President Joe Biden has previously raised concerns directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping about Beijing’s indirect support for Russia’s war effort.
Although China has not provided direct lethal military support to Russia, it has supported the country diplomatically by blaming the West for provoking Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to start the war, and the country has not called an invasion in deference to the Kremlin.
China has also said it will not provide Russia with weapons or military aid, although it has maintained robust economic ties with Moscow, alongside India and other countries, amid sanctions from Washington and its allies.
Xi met in Beijing on Tuesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who praised Xi’s leadership.
Russia’s growing economic and diplomatic isolation has made the country increasingly dependent on China, its former rival for leadership of the communist bloc during the Cold War.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who returned to Washington this week after a visit to Beijing, said she warned Chinese officials that the Biden administration was prepared to sanction Chinese banks, companies and Beijing’s leaders if they helped Russian forces in the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. .
The Democratic president issued an executive order in December giving Yellen the authority to impose sanctions on financial institutions that helped Russia’s military-industrial complex.
“We remain concerned about the role that companies, including those in the People’s Republic of China, play in Russian military procurement,” Yellen told reporters, using the initials of the People’s Republic of China. “I emphasized that companies, including those in the People’s Republic of China, should not provide material support to Russia’s war and will face significant consequences if they do. And I emphasized that all banks that facilitate significant transactions involving military or dual-use goods to Russia’s defense industrial base expose themselves to the risk of US sanctions.”
The US has regularly downgraded and revealed intelligence findings about Russia’s plans and operations over the course of its more than two-year war with Ukraine.
Such efforts have focused on highlighting plans for Russian disinformation operations or drawing attention to Moscow’s difficulties in prosecuting its war against Ukraine, as well as coordinating with Iran and North Korea to to supply the country with much-needed weapons. Blinken highlighted information last year showing that China was considering supplying weapons and ammunition to Russia.
The White House believes that the public dissemination of the intelligence findings has led China, at least for now, to refrain from directly arming Russia. The Chinese economy also slowly emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic. Chinese officials could be sensitive to the reaction of European capitals, which have maintained closer ties with Beijing even as U.S.-China relations have become more complicated.
Meanwhile, China on Thursday announced rare sanctions against two U.S. defense companies over what it called their support for arms sales to Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy that Beijing claims as its own territory that can be reclaimed by force if necessary.
The announcement freezes the assets of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and General Dynamics Land Systems in China. It also prevents the companies’ management from entering the country.
Documents show General Dynamics operates a half-dozen Gulfstream and jet aviation services in China, which remains heavily dependent on foreign aerospace technology even as it tries to build its own presence in the field.
The company is also arranging for the Abrams tank to be purchased by Taiwan to replace aging armor intended to deter or resist an invasion from China.
General Atomics produces the Predator and Reaper drones used by the US military.
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AP writer Fatima Hussein contributed reporting.