British Defense Minister Grant Shapps accused China of either already transferring or preparing to transfer lethal weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine.
This is reported by Reuters.
According to Minister Shapps, American and British defense intelligence have received evidence that "lethal aid is currently flowing or will flow from China to Russia" and then it will end up in Ukraine.
Grant Shapps added that "we should be concerned about this" because at the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, China wanted to influence Putin to de-escalate.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken warned China against supporting Russia and threatened new sanctions. China is a major supplier of machine tools, microelectronics, nitrocellulose, which is critical to the production of munitions, rocket fuel and other dual-use goods that Moscow uses to build up its defense industrial base.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia, China has never once supported Ukraine. Beijing supported the Russian Federation and condemned the sanctions against it imposed by the West due to its armed aggression. Chinaʼs total trade with Russia reached a record high last year — $218 billion in the 11 months of 2023.