US Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo is expected to urge Ukraine’s supporters and western businesses to stop cooperation with Chinese companies that could resell ‘dual use’ goods to Russia, Financial Times reported on Thursday.
Washington has alleged that China is supplying Russia with technology for its defense sector, calling those inputs crucial for Moscow in its conflict with Ukraine. US authorities have sanctioned dozens of Chinese businesses, accusing them of selling Russia goods and components, including navigation devices and machine tools, that can be used for both civilian and military purposes.
Adeyemo will announce the need to “make the choice stark for China,” according to excerpts of a speech cited by FT that will reportedly be delivered to German business leaders in Berlin on Friday.
In the extracts shared with the media, Adeyemo calls on US allies to force Chinese companies to make a choice to do business in their economies or to keep cooperating with Russia.
“They cannot do both. Every country in our coalition and every member of NATO must also consistently and clearly communicate to Beijing that it is unacceptable for the Chinese to abet the Russian military-industrial base,” the treasury secretary is expected to say.
The Chinese Ministry of Defense has decried the US claims as “baseless.” Wu Qian, a spokesperson for the ministry, said that China always “holds a prudent and responsible attitude toward the export of military products.” The comments came in response to previous accusations by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps.
On Wednesday, Shapps claimed that Russia and China were “collaborating on combat equipment for use in Ukraine” and that Beijing is providing Moscow with “lethal” weapons. In April, Blinken expressed “serious” concerns over China’s alleged support for the Russian defense sector.
“China and Russia uphold the principles of non-alliance, non-confrontation and the non-targeting of any third party, and have established a new type of relations between major countries that is entirely different from the Cold War pattern,” Wu said.
Both Moscow and Beijing have rejected allegations that they provide military aid to Moscow. The Kremlin has emphasized that it has never asked Chinese authorities for such assistance.