Beijing is “picking a side” and can’t claim to be neutral any more, the US ambassador to NATO tells POLITICO.
Beijing is “picking a side” and can’t claim to be neutral any more, the US ambassador to NATO tells POLITICO.
China is helping Russia meet its war goals in Ukraine by continuing to sell supplies such as drone technology and gunpowder ingredients to Moscow, the U.S. Ambassador to NATO said in an interview.
"The PRC [People's Republic of China] cannot claim to be entirely neutral in this case, [and] they are in fact picking a side," Julianne Smith told POLITICO on Tuesday. "I think when the PRC tries to portray itself as neutral, when it comes to this war, we don't buy it."
Smith said the United States was "increasingly seeing materiel support" from China to Russia, adding that this equipment — which can have both civilian and military uses — had played a critical role in helping Moscow achieve some of its aims against Ukraine.
It would be so amazingly fantastic if the West had any moral credibility left, because it is true that in the case of Ukraine, the West is actually preaching the right thing: a rules based international order, where nations have the right to self determination and other countries don't get to arbitrarily decide whether you have the right to exist. Like, exactly what Palestinians need.
If there is one thing the unwavering support for the Israeli Genocide in Gaza from the likes of the US, UK and Germany has done was completelly burn their moral credibility.
Nobody outside a very small political circle jerk of hard neolibs and fascists (applauded by their mindless tribalist useful idiots) around the US pays any attention to any criticism of other nations by this US Administration.
Further, I suspect this doesn't just apply in the "Global South" but also in most of Europe (as both the Brits and the Germans are atypical, though for different reasons, and there are a lot of europeans who, for some "strange reason" have an instinctive hate of larger more powerfull nations murdering people in weaker nations).
Way to blow up your soft power to help out a bunch of murderous radical Fascists in a Middle Eastern Theocracy commiting Genocide along etnic lines.
I think many of us paying attention over the long term have realized that the US pretty much never had the right to even claim moral credibility. Whether evidenced by our treatment of our own citizens or our constant involvement in other countries we have corporate business "interests" with. We constantly destabilize and overthrow other countries for our corporate "masters."
The difference is that Ukraine didn't attack russia.... Palestine would wipe Israel and every jew off the planet if they had the ability to. Not saying what Israel is doing is right, but acting like the other side is without fault is disingenuous.
If Ukraine has a right to defend itself against foreign aggression, so does Palestine, especially after decades of genocide. Israel is the aggressor, just like Russia.
And Palestine didn't attack Israel. Israel never allowed for a Palestine. But a history of apartheid, check. History of land grabs and illegal settlements, check. History of dehumanizing an entire people, check.
We get it, you are all for dehumanizing billions of people and refuse to address the genocide, murder of women and children, mass graves, literally creating famine, cutting off food and water, happening right here and now, right in front of you. Because these are not people to you. Instead you want to direct people to some imaginary hypothetical of what someone 'would do'.
China's accurately balancing it's profits. It can sell much more products to it's primary markets if it gets resources from Russia and get some bonus on also selling sanctioned or illegal stuff with a huge margin. Can NATO or other structure condition it to back off a little? Probably yes since a lot of banks started to slow down or deny processing payments from russian corporations. Can it stop it completely? Probably not, but with every new barrier, the russian economy suffers from underdelivery and overpaying for a banal stuff.
NATO economies are probably much more profitable for China. If NATO wanted to get serious about supporting Ukraine we would be sanctioning not only Russia, but also countries that don't sanction Russia. China and India would quickly change their policy on Russian trade.
Till there is petroleum in Russia neither China nor India is going to change their relationship with Russia. I don't think even European nations have completely stopped relying on Russia for their energy needs.
And China trade is profitable for NATO countries. Is China not sanctioning Russia expensive enough, in terms of additionally needed support to Ukraine, to warrant the massive global fallout that such a move could have?
If you ask me such a move would be too principled for its own good. Everyone, literally everyone, is busy fucking Russia one way or the other right now for the simple reason that Russia now is a beggar, not a chooser. Are they sanctioning as hard no but in the end it still amounts to significant pressure and it's the total impact, duration, and steadfastness that counts, not the symbolism.
Also China isn't right-out helping Russia like NK does, if they did they'd be sending over tanks instead of literal golf carts.
Yeah China isn't thinking economically here, they're thinking geopolitically. The smart choice would've been to back Ukraine, which is in line with their positions on sovereignty, and then criticize the US on Palestine now from a moral high ground. It would've also created closer economic ties with the West, and cemented a rivalry status versus an adversary status.
Both China and Russia don't seem to understand that the world order has changed. You don't become a superpower or powerful nation by conquering land or being aggressive military. You have to achieve economic dominance, which China actually was doing rather successfully. Their antagonism has spurred economic development in other areas now.
That isn't to say that military power is useless. But it's more powerful when it's used as soft power, not an actual conquering army.
In case the US has forgotten, China is selling key technology like drones to Ukraine, too. If that's not staying neutral and not picking a side, I don't know what is. The US wants China to pick the US side, not stay neutral. In fact, China currently has a trade deficit with Ukraine.
In February 2024, China exported $221M and imported $477M from Ukraine, resulting in a negative trade balance of $256M.
Smith was speaking shortly before U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits China on Wednesday. He's expected to warn Chinese officials not to provide aid to Russia.
Or else they're going to get a very stern talking to.
BRUSSELS — China is helping Russia meet its war goals in Ukraine by continuing to sell supplies such as drone technology and gunpowder ingredients to Moscow, the U.S.
"The PRC [People's Republic of China] cannot claim to be entirely neutral in this case, [and] they are in fact picking a side," Julianne Smith told POLITICO on Tuesday.
Smith said the United States was "increasingly seeing materiel support" from China to Russia, adding that this equipment — which can have both civilian and military uses — had played a critical role in helping Moscow achieve some of its aims against Ukraine.
She outlined the kind of support that Beijing had been giving Moscow, including "machine tools, microelectronics, UAV technologies and nitrocellulose that is used as a propellant."
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), more commonly known as drones, have played a significant role in the war for both sides, while China's massive output of nitrocellulose — a key ingredient for making gunpowder — is a concern for Europe's own defense industry.
Beijing insists that it's not a "party" to the war — and defends what it calls "normal trading relationships" with Moscow while accusing the U.S. of actively sending arms to Ukraine.
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I don't disagree with you actually. It's wrong for China to be helping Russia here, and it's wrong for the US to be helping Israel. They aren't the exact same scenarios, so there are differences, but the US and China are both doing the wrong thing in these individual scenarios. Ideally China would stop trade with Russia and the US would also stop aiding Israel. Not one or the other. It's good for the two countries to call each other out on these.
As a side note, writing this comment did make me realize one big difference between the two situations. The US has widespread protests against the Israel aid policy, especially at universities. I haven't heard of any similar protests in Chinese society or universities regarding Russia, but I also don't tend to consume Chinese news. That, and the Chinese government is not as welcoming of protest like this (which says a lot, considering the US isn't exactly either). Do you know if there's any dissent in China?
What's bad about China picking a side? Ukrainians are fighting with US weapons.. what Americans expect China to do? China it's a communist country what y'all expect them to do? Y'all expect the US to finance both wars WO consequences?
US is an aggressor to China right now with all import/export bans. There's no way in hell they will change their policies unless the US removes these bans.
Who told you that bullshit? If all they were fascists why don't they just join together into one single super power? Easier than wasting money and people into it.
Come on. Those who actually believe in "neutrality" are either fools or liars. Of course China would have an opinion on the conflict.
Anyways, the article is garbage and provides no evidence of any wrongdoing. It literally states that there is no evidence of China sending weapons to Russia, but then starts fearmongering and implying that whatever common goods are being sent are actually being used for war. Iraq's aluminum tubes pt 2.