U.S. says China helping Russia build up defense

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — China is helping Russia undertake its biggest military expansion since Soviet times, US officials said Friday, stepping up public pressure as concerns rise over Ukraine.

US officials are hoping the release of the intelligence will encourage European allies to press China, as Chancellor Olaf Scholz heads to Beijing this weekend and Group of Seven foreign ministers meet next week in Italy.

Unveiling US findings, officials said China was helping Russia on a range of areas including the joint production of drones, space-based capabilities and machine-tool exports vital for producing ballistic missiles.

China has been the key factor in revitalizing Russia’s defense industrial base “which had otherwise suffered significant setbacks” since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a senior US official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

“Russia is undertaking its most ambitious defense expansion since the Soviet era and on a faster timeline than we believed possible early on in this conflict,” the official said.

“Our view is that one of the most game-changing moves available to us at this time to support Ukraine is to persuade the PRC to stop helping Russia reconstitute its military industrial base,” the official said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.

“Russia would struggle to sustain its war effort without PRC inputs,” he said.

US officials said that China provided more than 70 percent of the $900 million in machine tools — likely used to build ballistic missiles — imported in the last quarter of 2023 by Russia.

US officials also said that 90 percent of Russia’s microelectronics imports — used to produce missiles, tanks and aircraft — came from China last year.