The Washington Post: China tries to support Russia without violating Western sanctions

Russian officials have raised increasingly frustrated requests for greater support during discussions with Beijing in recent weeks, calling on China to live up to its affirmation of a “no limits” partnership made weeks before the war in Ukraine began.

But China’s leadership wants to expand assistance for Russia without running afoul of Western sanctions and has set limits on what it will do, according to Chinese and U.S. officials, The Washington Post reported on June 2.

Moscow has on at least two occasions pressed Beijing to offer new forms of economic support — exchanges that one Chinese official described as “tense.”

China is in a bind as it seeks to help its most important strategic partner, which started a war that Beijing did not anticipate would now be entering its fourth month, Chinese and U.S. officials said. They said that President Xi Jinping has tasked his closest advisers to come up with ways to help Russia financially but without violating sanctions.

China has tried to find “other opportunities” diplomatically, and through joint military exercises, to bolster Russia. Last week, Russia and China flew strategic bombers over the Sea of Japan and East China Sea while President Biden was in Tokyo, wrapping up his first trip to Asia. It was their first joint military exercise since the invasion of Ukraine, and a pointed signal of the growing strategic partnership between Moscow and Beijing.

China has called for an end to the war but has refused to join a global consortium of countries in imposing sanctions on Moscow, instead laying blame for the conflict on the United States and NATO expansion in Europe.

Russia has not requested “weapons and ammunition” to support its war, the Chinese officials said, but declined to comment on whether Russia had requested other items that could be used in military operations, including technology and supplies.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on June 1 that the United States has not seen any “systematic effort” by China to help Russia evade sanctions, nor has it seen any significant military support from China to Russia.

China has balked at helping Russia evade sanctions, fearing the United States, and it allies could cut China off from critical technology, including semiconductors and aerospace equipment, as well as target its financial system, a Beijing official said. Shipments of high-end Chinese technology to Russia — including smartphones, laptops and telecommunications equipment — have plummeted since the war began.

Nonetheless, the Chinese maintain that the U.S. and Western sanctions are illegal and that China will continue to do business with Russia.

Domestic Chinese bidding documents show that financing for new construction on the strategically significant Russia-China Eastern Route gas pipeline has continued since the war began, with fresh purchases for materials and machinery earmarked for the southern leg of the project. It is expected to provide 18.9 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to China’s economically vibrant Yangtze Delta region by 2025.

China’s Institute of Atomic Energy in April also purchased new services and equipment from Russian nuclear engineering firm OKBM Afrikantov for the Russian-built China Experimental Fast Reactor (CEFR) nuclear project near Beijing, documents show. In the same period, it purchased new supplies and services from Russian state atomic energy firm Rosatom for the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant, a landmark Sino-Russian project under construction in China’s Jiangsu province.

Municipal and provincial governments have also been directed by Beijing to launch projects to expand trade and financial ties with Russia, according to the Beijing officials and domestic bidding documents filed in China.