Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON: The United States (US) has warned China of dire consequences were it to provide weapons to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The statements comes as Kyiv’s top general visited Bakhmut, the frontline town, where Ukrainian defenders were holding out against constant attacks.
The US and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies are trying to dissuade China from providing army aid for the Russia war, making public comments on their belief that China was considering providing lethal equipment, possibly including drones.
Western fears of Beijing helping to arm Russia come as Moscow’s armed forces struggle to make gains around main objectives in the eastern Ukraine and as Kyiv prepares a counter-offensive with modern Western arms, including battle tanks.
US stance
“Beijing would have to make its own decisions about how it proceeds, whether it provides army assistance, but if it goes down that road, it would come at real costs to China,” Jake Sullivan, White House national security adviser, told CNN’s “State of the Union” programme.
While China hadn’t moved forward in providing that fund, nor had it taken the option off the table, Sullivan stated in a separate interview on ABC’s “This Week” programme.
China has refused to condemn Russia’s attack on Ukraine, recently at a Group of Twenty (G20) meeting in India. It published a ceasefire proposal Friday, the first anniversary of the Russia/Ukraine war, but the offer was met with skepticism among the Ukraine’s Western allies.
