Punish China for supporting the war in Ukraine

Jens Stoltenberg places greater responsibility on China for Russia’s warfare in Ukraine.

Friday 26 April at 16:44

In a speech in Berlin on Thursday evening, NATO’s secretary general said that China must make a choice between a good relationship with the West and continued support for the biggest armed conflict in Europe since the Second World War.

– China cannot have both, said Stoltenberg.

When asked directly about China’s role after the speech, Stoltenberg held China responsible for Russia continuing its attack on Ukraine:

– Russia would not have been able to wage war in Ukraine without the support of China. That is a fact, said Stoltenberg.

– Helping Moscow

The statement came after Stoltenberg had received an award from the German organization Atlantik-Brücke, which works for closer ties between Germany and the United States.

– China supports Russia’s war economy, said the NATO chief.

– China shares high technology such as semiconductors and other purposes that can be used both civilly and militarily. Last year, Russia imported 90 percent of its microprocessors from China. They are used to produce missiles, tanks and aircraft, he continued.

Stoltenberg added that China also contributes to Russia getting better satellite capacities.

He said that all this support is the main reason why Russia can continue what they are doing in Ukraine:

“All this helps Moscow inflict more death and destruction on Ukraine, strengthen Russia’s defense industry, and avoid the impact of sanctions and export controls,” said NATO general secretary.

Deeply concerned

US Foreign Minister Anthony Blinken has also criticized China for the same as Stoltenberg.

Blinken is in Beijing on Friday. After a several-hour meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, he addressed China’s support for Russia’s warfare in Ukraine:

– I conveyed our deep concern that China supplies components that strengthen Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine, Blinken said according to Reuters.

China has previously denied that it supplies weapons to any of the parties to the war, and that it is not a party to the “Ukraine crisis” – but that it maintains normal trade with Russia.