US accuses China of backing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ( www.politico.eu )

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.

Sam_Bass ,

As is iran, north korea, hungary, turkey....

MaDMaX99 ,

What about all the puppet countries that backed USA in the invasion of irak?? 🤔

Harbinger01173430 ,

Or like, when the US ruined every south American country with their evil CIA operations last century

jas0n ,

Or, like when China was backing Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Harbinger01173430 ,

Or like when the US started to exist as a country. 🧐🧐🧐 Most evil thing that happened. The Americas were supposed to belong to Spain!

MaDMaX99 ,

Or when all the nato puppets were backing usa in its invasion of Irak, and Afghanistan, and Libya, and Syria, and Somalia and…

Siegfried ,

USA was on the top of the mountain of shit, but russia did its own part backing local terrorism.

zephyreks ,

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.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2022/03/31/dji-drones-become-vital-tool-in-ukraine-resistance/?sh=ea4c59879e6c

https://www.wsj.com/world/how-american-drones-failed-to-turn-the-tide-in-ukraine-b0ebbac3

endhits ,

Yeah but those uncomfortable facts get in the way of making china look scary for the next red scare

mlg ,
@mlg@lemmy.world avatar

China gave a solid 1.5 year buffer because they too saw Russia fumbling and probably expected NATO to finish the job when the war started.

Instead they just witnessed 2 years of profiteering on 90s surplus military technology and hindering Ukraine's ability to fight.

Now that Russia has proved its half stable and not going anywhere, China will happily sell whatever to them as long as the profit is stable.

Although its also funny how both sides are using a ton of DJI drones which China "allegedly" stopped selling.

cbarrick ,

Does that make this a proxy war?

Weird to think of Russia as a puppet in a proxy war. They used to be puppet masters but oh how the mighty have fallen.

FenrirIII ,
@FenrirIII@lemmy.world avatar

Putin cares about power. He probably thinks Russia can turn on China and destroy them too.

coarse ,

Sure he does...

cbarrick ,

Not sure why you're getting downvoted.

Surely Putin thinks that. It's not true, but I'm sure he thinks Russia is that powerful.

youngGoku ,

Just like the US supports israell invasion of Palestine.

The pot calling the kettle black.

DdCno1 ,

The two aren't even remotely the same and you know that.

reddit_sux ,

Agreeing wholeheartedly with this.

But it might not be the same initially it is now turning into the same.

coarse ,

"Nations support wars that align with their interests."

Seems pretty similar to me.

Aux ,

Yeah, Palestine is being slowly genocided for a few decades now, Israel should've been sanctioned many moons ago.

DdCno1 ,

That's why they have almost five times the population now compared to 1960. Contrast this to to Israel, which has only four times the population it had back then.

https://i.imgur.com/oOPAsex.jpg

Notice how population growth is accelerating. How does that make any sense?

assassin_aragorn ,

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?

theacharnian ,
@theacharnian@lemmy.ca avatar

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.

SupraMario ,

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.

DouchePalooza ,

I would say it is a BIG difference in comparing wars

theacharnian ,
@theacharnian@lemmy.ca avatar

Palestine would wipe Israel and every jew off the planet if they had the ability to.

Yea, that's a super racist statement right there.

SupraMario ,

[Thread, post or comment was deleted by the moderator]

    •
    Asafum ,

    This has almost nothing to do with Islam. They were ejected from their lands and then shoved into tightly controlled areas while being denied the right to exist as their own country. They are terrorists fighting for their independence.

    "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter." Has never rung more true than for the Palestinians. I won't argue that they aren't committing acts of terror, they absolutely are, but it's not purely bloodlust for the sake of their religion. It's the only thing they have left as the entire world failed them.

    They're now stuck (HAMAS) with an asshat of a leader though that also seems to be refusing compromise. It's all the land they want and for Israel to go away or fuck off completely.

    SupraMario ,

    I never once said I agree with Israel. Western nations should have never done what they did creating the state, but to act like Hamas wouldn't wipe Israel off the face of the earth in the name of religion is naive.

    theacharnian ,
    @theacharnian@lemmy.ca avatar

    There is no such thing as a "religion of peace". There are buddhist violent extremists. There were even anabaptist violent extremists.

    There are people who use religion to bring peace and healing, and there are people who use religion to bring discord and hatred. You are doing the latter.

    SupraMario ,

    [Thread, post or comment was deleted by the moderator]

    •
    Fidel_Cashflow ,
    @Fidel_Cashflow@lemmy.ml avatar

    https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/25847ace-584a-4422-bd2e-1b0f1bf8ec60.png

    SupraMario ,

    Yea everyone you disagree with is hitler. Got it...way to move a conversation along.

    Fidel_Cashflow ,
    @Fidel_Cashflow@lemmy.ml avatar

    Eat my asshole, bigot :)

    jordanlund Mod ,
    @jordanlund@lemmy.world avatar

    Removed, Islamophobia.

    SupraMario , (edited )

    [Thread, post or comment was deleted by the moderator]

    •
    jordanlund Mod ,
    @jordanlund@lemmy.world avatar

    I believe you and I have had this discussion before, and no, you cannot paint 1.9 billion people with the "they're all violent" brush.

    SupraMario ,

    I'm not though, I'm stating the religion is violent. I don't understand this disillusioned thought that many of you have that the religion isn't a violent and oppressive one. The same people defending it right now, are the same ones that attack and paint other religions with a brush.

    jordanlund Mod ,
    @jordanlund@lemmy.world avatar

    There are 1.9 BILLION adherents to that religion. If the religion itself were the problem, the world would be awash in blood. It's NOT.

    SupraMario ,

    Do you adhear to that same logic with gun owners?

    Supporting any religion that murders lgbtq+ persons, forces marriage and rape to minors and kills no believers is not a problem to you?

    And the entire middle east and a large portion of Africa are awash in blood because of this religion.

    Also why are you removing links to actual facts now?

    You all say you're intolerant of the intolerant, but here you are defending a religion that is intolerant...

    jordanlund Mod ,
    @jordanlund@lemmy.world avatar

    Your post was removed for continued Islamophobia and it doesn't matter how many links you provide because the vast majority of the 1.9 BILLION Muslims in the world ARE NOT VIOLENT.

    For guns, I absolutely do make the same argument. Take the AR-15 for example, notorious villain in anti-gun communities, ban worthy, etc. etc.

    https://www.everytown.org/press/the-ar-15-is-the-weapon-of-choice-for-mass-shooters-its-time-to-reinstate-the-bipartisan-congressional-assault-weapons-ban/

    "The AR-15 is the Weapon of Choice for Mass Shooters."

    Best estimate is there are over 20 million of them in the United States. I saw another estimate putting it around 44 million.

    Problem: The vast majority of mass shootings do not involve an AR-15. Pistols are far easier to obtain and conceal.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_shootings_in_the_United_States_in_2024

    SupraMario ,

    So what you're telling me is that the religion of islam is a peaceful one? That doesn't kill LGBTQ+ people, that allows them to exist, that doesn't stone women or have honor killings or is fine with womens rights?

    All of these things you're under the impression that Islam tolerates?

    Everything that i have posted has been against the religion, that's not islamophobia. I say the same shit about christians and they're diddling of kids, but I'm betting I wouldn't be called out for being christianphobia if I did though.

    Also i forgot you're actually one of the sane gun owners around here... I will say others who are posting here are %100 not in agreement with you on this though. All gun owners to them are baby killers.

    jordanlund Mod ,
    @jordanlund@lemmy.world avatar

    I'm saying the vast, vast majority of the 1.9 billion people who identify as Muslim are, in fact, peaceful people. If they weren't, the problems with religious violence would be a million times worse.

    MrSpArkle ,

    There's a conflating the goals of Hamas with the goal of Palestinian people here. Just because the majority of Palestinians support Hamas doesn't mean they all do.

    theacharnian ,
    @theacharnian@lemmy.ca avatar

    Also Hamas is not a monolith, same as the IRA wasn't. So even if now a majority of Palestinians say the "support Hamas" that doesn't mean they are supporting indiscriminate killing of Israeli civilians or even the destruction of Israel. A senior guy of theirs just came out suggesting they would be willing to disarm if a two state solution on the '67 borders was enacted. Things are always complicated. Same as not all Israelis, or even not all Israeli right wingers, are not genocidal maniacs like Ben Gvir, Palestinian hardliners are also complex. Peace is made with enemies.

    coarse ,

    Palestinians haven't done anything to Israelies that Israelies didn't do to them first at a greater degree.

    Aux ,

    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.

    tearsintherain , (edited )
    @tearsintherain@leminal.space avatar

    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'.

    SupraMario ,

    Hamas is the gov in Palestine. This is like saying the usa didn't attack Afghanistan or Iraq...just our gov did.

    And no where have I said that what Israel is doing is right, but I'm not under some delusional ignorance that hamas wouldn't happily wipe Israel off the map if it had the means.

    That's the difference between understanding what Islamic regimes create and thinking if no one touched them they magically would be peaceful.

    Ignoring the level of violence that is brought on by Islamic regimes is naive. You're so afraid of calling out their bigotry and violence that you're willing to give them a pass. You seem to just want to ignore the level of bigotry that is done in the name of that religion.

    tearsintherain , (edited )
    @tearsintherain@leminal.space avatar

    You speak in hypotheticals fueled by hate. Ignoring all the violence perpetrated by many peoples.

    You're filled with hate amigo, all towards a single belief system. Meanwhile Russia has invaded Ukraine, and civilians, women and children a plenty are being slaughtered in Gaza in the here and now, not some imaginary hypothetical.

    SupraMario ,

    That's some great whataboutism. Yea other people are also violent, that doesn't subtract from the fact that islam as a religion is one of violence.

    Aceticon , (edited )

    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.

    Asafum ,

    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."

    Aceticon ,

    I think honest people want to believe the best of others, and the US under Biden got a lot of "he's not the same as the others" goodwill up until the point he gave unwavering support to people that were mass murdering their neighbours in the most violent racist way possible, comparable only with the Nazis.

    It's pretty hard to come across as a Humanitarian or ever just "not a Racist" when you're excusing a Genocide because the nation comitting it has a certain majority etnic makeup and that's exactly were not just the US but the UK, Germany and to a lesser externt some European countries went.

    Personally I wasn't at all surprised by the US or the UK's position but was about Germany. Clearly Germany's "never again" wasn't the Humanitarian version - "never again shall people be killed for their etnicity" - but the racist version - "never again shall our nation do this to Jews (not people in general but a very specific etnicity)" - which not only explains their "unwavering support for the Jewish Nation" but also the "strange" detail that the etnicity that was even more victimized by the Nazis - the Roma, aka Gypsies - post-War never received Germany's unwavering support: guess some "etnics" never stopped being untermenschen.

    Being from a Southern European country - Portugal - and having lived in The Netherlands, before all this I assumed that the Dutch tendency to "try and be fair to other people" was also shared by their "High German" speaking neighbours. I was wrong, so very incredibly wrong!

    assassin_aragorn ,

    Yeah Ukraine was a bit of a departure from the norm. It was a "wait, are we the good guys for once?" moment.

    Supervisor194 ,
    @Supervisor194@lemmy.world avatar

    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.

    AnAnonymous ,

    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?

    HerrVorragend ,
    @HerrVorragend@lemmy.world avatar

    One side clearly is the aggressor here. To pick their side is not a good look and makes other countries question China’s intentions.

    cybersin ,

    Ok, so what do you think about the US siding with and funding Israel?

    coarse ,

    It's a little bit more complicated than that if you look into the history of Ukraine, especially its eastern regions.

    Aux ,

    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.

    boredtortoise ,

    China isn’t communist. China, Russia, USA et al integrated fascism as their system and now fight each other for power. This is just one alignment

    AnAnonymous ,

    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.

    boredtortoise ,

    Inspect that bullshit a little if you’d like to be more informed. Fascists are always infighting and even any temporary alliances will be betrayed

    xor ,

    Like Russia and Germany did before WW2?

    FlyingSquid Mod ,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    The same reason Franco didn’t join in during WWII despite being a fascist.

    coarse ,

    why don’t they just join together into one single super power?

    Working together means someone can't be on top.

    They can't have that.

    Aux ,

    Communism is fascism.

    boredtortoise ,

    Fascism can disguise itself as communism but communism can't exist in fascism

    Aux ,

    [Thread, post or comment was deleted by the moderator]

    •
    Aux ,

    Mods can't stand the truth, I see...

    xor ,

    The difference is that China claims to be neutral, whereas the US explicitly supports Ukraine

    HappycamperNZ ,

    Uhh… so?

    Nato is clearly supporting Ukraine too and neither is out of character. Does it suck for Ukraine - absolutely. But this should surprise no one.

    ininewcrow ,
    @ininewcrow@lemmy.ca avatar

    We’re talking about rules here … everyone has to follow them … except for the US

    OKRainbowKid ,

    Is NATO pretending to be neutral?

    That was a bad attempt, try harder.

    HappycamperNZ ,

    So you think China is neutral in any way in any anti-west conflict?

    ceasarlegsvin ,

    Try re-reading the comment you just replied to and this time try to get all the words

    cybersin ,

    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.

    andrew_bidlaw ,
    @andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works avatar

    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.

    ForgotAboutDre ,

    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.

    barsoap ,

    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.

    reddit_sux ,

    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.

    Aux ,

    Trump has started a trade war with China for no reason and Biden didn't stop it either. China has no interest in doing favours to the West.

    assassin_aragorn ,

    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.

    autotldr Bot ,

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    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.

    The original article contains 354 words, the summary contains 199 words. Saved 44%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

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