Antony Blinken warns of threat to Europe as China helps Russia 'sustain Ukraine war'
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated concerns about China's support for Russian war efforts in Ukraine on Monday, eight days before a Nato summit begins in Washington.
Blinken said China was helping fuel "the biggest security threat ... since the end of the Cold War" for Europe, a threat that is echoed by China's neighbours in Asia.
He made the comments at the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank.
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"Partners in Europe see challenges halfway around the world in Asia as being relevant to them, just as partners in Asia see challenges halfway around the world in Europe as being relevant to them," Blinken said.
He pointed to a joint statement by Nato and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida last year that said "what happens in Europe could happen in Asia tomorrow" regarding Russia's war on Ukraine.
Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea are Nato's partners in the Indo-Pacific region and will take part in the summit, which starts on July 9. They will gather with leaders of 32 member countries over the three-day summit, the first since Sweden joined the security alliance.
Last month, Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said China's close relationship with Russia has made it necessary for Nato to forge global partnerships, particularly in the Indo-Pacific, and significantly increase defence spending.
"The growing alignment between Russia and its authoritarian friends in Asia makes it even more important that we work closely with our friends in the Indo-Pacific," Stoltenberg said.
Blinken said Nato was "moving to make sure that we have the right defences across the alliance where they are needed, where they matter".
"This has been a clear trajectory for the last three and a half years. I do not actually see that changing, irrespective of the politics of the moment," he said.
Blinken also echoed Stoltenberg's call for closer partnerships. He said the US would continue to confront challenges posed by China "having reinvested in our alliances and partnerships", adding that Beijing's relationship with Russia "has profound repercussions for Europe".
"China [is] making, in effect, investments in Russia's defence industrial base in ways that are allowing it to continue the aggression - not providing arms directly to Russia, but providing all the inputs necessary for it to sustain this war," he said, pointing out that a majority of machine tools and microelectronics imported by Russia are from China.
"A massive production now we have seen of tanks, of munitions, of missiles - again, enabled by this defence industrial base, despite the important impact that sanctions and export controls have had," he said.
Beijing has repeatedly objected to Washington's warnings about its relationship with Moscow. It has denied providing weapons to nations engaged in wars and said it strictly controlled the export of dual-use items.
On Friday, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said: "The US side should stop groundlessly smearing and scapegoating China, and stop obstructing the normal trade and economic exchanges between China and Russia."
A recent report on the China-Russia alignment by three think tanks in Britain, Germany and the US expressed similar views.
"Beijing's assistance to Russia turns China into a security threat to be contained rather than only a 'partner, competitor and systemic rival'" as regarded by the European Union, said the report, which was co-authored by Chatham House, MERICS and the German Marshall Fund of the United States and released on Wednesday.
"To end the war in Ukraine, China must be persuaded that it is in its own long-term interest to stop helping Russia to reconstitute its military industrial base."
It continued: "Europe needs to present Beijing with a starker choice: either it continues helping Russia and faces consequences, or it begins curbing support for Russia's war efforts and continues to enjoy close trade links with its key economic partners."
To end China's export of dual-use items, which is critical to Russia's war effort, the report said the EU could expand restrictive measures on companies circumventing sanctions. Possible steps include imposing export restrictions on the businesses, and working with G7 partners to impose secondary sanctions.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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