Russia and China this week took part in the largest military exercises in nearly 30 years. Joint naval and air exercises A Reuters report on Tuesday confirmed that the incident occurred in both hemispheres.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the week-long war drills would involve 90,000 troops, 400 warships, submarines and support vessels, as well as 120 aircraft and helicopters in the Pacific and Arctic oceans and the Mediterranean, Caspian and Baltic seas.
The exercise called “Ocean 24” coincided with meetings between the US and the European Union in Brussels, which discussed security issues in the Indo-Pacific region as well as India-US relations. China’s support to Russia During the war in Ukraine, addressed.
Chinese and Russian warships will participate in a joint naval exercise in the East China Sea on December 27, 2022. (Shu Wei/Xinhua via AP, File)
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The US has accused Beijing of overstepping its bounds and giving Russia “too much” support after more than two-and-a-half years of war and sanctions that have begun to strain its military stockpile.
“These are not dual-use capabilities,” US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell told reporters in reference to the latest report, according to Politico EU. Material supplies to Russia by China“These are essentially being applied directly to the Russian war machine.”
“These are components of a very significant effort by China to help maintain, build and diversify various elements of the Russian war machine,” he said. “We are seeing efforts at the highest levels of both governments to hide and protect some elements of this worrying cooperation.”
“Most of these activities have been conducted underground,” Campbell warned,
A statement issued by the State Department after the U.S.-EU meeting accused China of helping Russia evade sanctions and called on Beijing to “act in support of international law” — including its efforts to advance any peace proposal.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet in Beijing on May 16, 2024. (Sergey Bobylev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo AP, File)
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China has repeatedly denied any involvement in Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine and has pushed for a peace deal to end the conflict.
But a six-part peace proposal presented by China and Brazil in May was flatly rejected by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who told Brazilian news outlet Metropoles on Thursday that the plan lacked respect for Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
He said, “Either you support the war, or you don’t support the war. If you don’t support it, help us stop Russia.” Report of the Kyiv Independent,
“Just leave our land, forget that they are killing our people? What is the compromise in that?” he asked. “So I think it’s destructive. It’s just a political statement.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that he was ready to once again strengthen ties with Russia. the idea of participating in peace talks There will be no agreement with Ukraine unless countries such as China, Brazil or India play the role of mediator – a condition Zelensky is unlikely to agree to, as Moscow has ties with both Brazil and China.
Moscow and Beijing have become increasingly united against the US and its Western allies following the invasion of Ukraine, further deepening the geopolitical divide between authoritarian leaders and democratic countries.
But it is not just China that is assisting Russia in its effort to foster the growing alliance.
A Russian warship during exercises with the Chinese navy in the Sea of Japan on September 10, 2024. (Russian Defense Ministry/Handout via Reuters)
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Campbell reportedly said on Tuesday that Moscow has also begun sharing some of its most secret military secrets with China, giving it access to submarines, missiles and other sensitive technologies.
“The capabilities that Russia is providing are assistance in areas where previously they were reluctant to engage directly with China,” Campbell said. “We are concerned about certain military areas where there appears to be some determination to provide more assistance to China.”
US officials have warned that if China “receives greater support from Russia in perfecting certain military capabilities, it will pose an even greater threat to countries like Japan and South Korea in the Indo-Pacific region and in the East China Sea.”
