Joe Biden said he did not think China would send weapons to Russia to help its military campaign in Ukraine, in comments that appeared to play down claims from top officials that Beijing was considering the idea.
In an interview with ABC television on Friday that aired on the evening of the anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the US president suggested that he was not worried about the statement – which came from the secretary of state Antony Blinken and other seniors. officials – that China is considering providing weapons to bolster Russia’s military.
“I don’t expect a major initiative from China to supply weapons to Russia,” Biden said in an interview at the White House.
While Biden said he did not expect China to send weapons, he warned that he “will respond” if Beijing does. But the president’s level of concern appears to be lower than that of a top member of the administration who for the past week has suggested that China is considering sending weapons to Russia.
Speaking last weekend after meeting Wang Yi, China’s top foreign policy official, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, Blinken told NBC television that he was deeply concerned about China’s assistance.
“Some of the additional information that was shared today and that I think will come out soon . . . indicates that they are seriously considering giving assistance to Russia,” Blinken told the television network.
Blinken told Wang there would be “serious consequences” if China sent weapons.
Blinken’s warning comes 11 months after the US last confirmed that China was considering supplying arms to Russia after President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin signed an “unrestricted” partnership weeks before the invasion of Ukraine.
The following month, administration officials said China had prepared to send weapons but reversed course after a US warning.
In a separate interview with CBS News last weekend, Blinken said China had provided “non-lethal” support to Russia for use in Ukraine and was now considering providing “lethal support”.
Although Blinken claimed that the information would be forthcoming “soon,” the White House offered no public evidence to back up the claim.
Asked on Friday why the U.S. had not released the evidence after insisting that officials had addressed the issue, John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, did not elaborate.
“I just don’t have any intelligence to talk about today,” Kirby replied, before adding: “I’m not going to deal with it any more than that.”
The Biden administration on Friday placed five Chinese groups on a blacklist of its “entity list” – which effectively bans companies from providing American technology to the groups – for their alleged role in providing assistance to the Russian military. The action is part of a larger package targeting nearly 300 individuals and groups.
In a coordinated move with the G7, the US warned that there would be “severe costs” for any country that helped Russia evade sanctions.
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