What happened?
“China is trying to get it from both sides.” Antony Blinken said that in an interview with NBC News that aired on Sunday. The US Secretary of State alluded to China’s announcements that it wants to launch a peace initiative for the war in Ukraine.
At the same time, the US government fears that the Chinese are about to provide “lethal support” to Russia. When asked, Blinken specified: “Weapons, mainly weapons.”
The Chinese would publicly position themselves as a country striving for peace – but in the background they are already giving “non-lethal” support to Russia. This, for example, in the form of commercially manufactured drones that can also be used in war, reports The Wall Street Journal.
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How should Blinken’s statements be assessed?
If we are to believe Blinken’s statements, further Chinese interference is imminent. He cites information that the US government has, but is not specified.
According to New York Times analyst Eduard Wong, Blinken’s public statement reveals a certain desperation on the part of the United States. The Biden administration is trying to stop Xi Jinping from supplying weapons at all costs. However, according to Wong, the United States has few good cards against China to actually influence the decisions of the Chinese government. Relations between the two countries have reached an all-time low, particularly as a result of the balloon affair (see last point).
What would Chinese arms shipments mean?
If the Chinese actually deliver military equipment to Moscow, the war in Ukraine will undoubtedly reach a new, more far-reaching dimension. According to Times analyst Wong, such action by China would herald the start of a new “old Cold War”. Until the early 1990s, the United States and Russia fought a shadow conflict by supporting states in local conflicts and carrying out proxy wars around the world – for example, in Korea, Vietnam or Afghanistan. Now China could finally take over Russia’s role as the major adversary of the US.
Chinese military support for Russia would mean Xi Jinping’s government would actively side with Russia – so far it has limited itself to passive means, promoting Russian narratives and blaming the West and NATO for the conflict in Ukraine.
According to Times analyst Wong, the result would be a new, pronounced bloc formation. On the one hand Russia and China with their partners Iran and North Korea, on the other hand the US, large parts of Europe and their partners from the Far East Japan and South Korea.
The impact of the Balloon affair
Relations between China and the US have long been tense, but have been seriously strained since the launch of a suspected Chinese spy balloon over US soil. The US described the balloon’s presence in US airspace as an “unacceptable violation of US sovereignty”. China, on the other hand, downplayed the affair, calling the intervention of the US fighter jets “hysterical and absurd”, as China’s leading foreign politician Wang Yi recently reiterated at the Munich Security Conference.
According to China’s Xinhua news agency, Wang told his American counterpart Blinken in a personal conversation on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference that China “will respond if the US continues to dramatize and escalate the situation.” Observers see the statement as a possible strategy to justify any Chinese military support for Russia in the war. (con/sda/dpa)
Soource :Watson
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
