China Limits Export of Drones That Could Be Used for ‘Non-Peaceful Purposes’ in Ukraine

The Chinese government announced Monday that it will tighten export restrictions on high-performance drones with potential military applications in order to “safeguard national security and interests.”

Beijing said it was concerned with the “increasing risk” that its drones could be used for “non-peaceful purposes” in the Ukraine war.

“The risk of some high-specification and high-performance civilian unmanned aerial vehicles being converted to military use is constantly increasing,” the Ministry of Commerce said in its statement Monday.

The ministry noted that “since the crisis in Ukraine, some Chinese civilian drone companies have voluntarily suspended their operations in conflict areas.”

The Ministry of Commerce walked a tightrope between preserving its close partnership with Russia and insisting it has remained absolutely neutral in the Ukraine conflict. The statement angrily rejected last week’s U.S. intelligence report that said China has surreptitiously shipped “more than $12 million in drones and drone parts to Russia” during the war.

“The moderate expansion of drone control by China this time is an important measure to demonstrate the responsibility of a responsible major country,” the statement said.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, export restrictions will be imposed on drones that can fly beyond line-of-sight from their operators, stay aloft for more than 30 minutes, or carry payloads that can be dropped.

China’s state-run Global Times on Tuesday quoted drone manufacturers insisting they have never designed any military products and “strongly opposes” the use of their drones for non-peaceful purposes, so the new export restrictions should not affect their business at all.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce insisted that the export controls “do not target any country or region,” and were only a modest expansion of existing policies that should allow Chinese manufacturers to “still export their products for legitimate civilian uses after following the necessary procedures.”

Another Global Times post on Tuesday belied those insistences on complete neutrality by fuming about “frequent drone attacks” on civilian structures in Moscow over the past few days, and castigating Western powers for supposedly looking the other way while Ukraine engages in drone terrorism:

Chinese analysts said this situation will increase the difficulty of a political solution to the crisis. The US-led Western countries will tolerate or even support such attack on civilian facilities in Russia, because they believe this will spread fear among the Russian people and their support for President Vladimir Putin could be undermined, potentially forcing the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, analysts said.

However, this could result in an opposite consequence, as Russian people’s hatred against the West will be reinforced and increased, and these attacks will force Russia to respond with more strikes and cause more bloodshed, increasing the hatred on both sides. It will vastly increase the difficulty of reaching a political solution to the crisis, experts noted.

The Global Times uncritically relayed Russia’s claim that “25 Ukrainian drones tried to attack Crimea on Sunday night,” and that Ukraine deliberately launched a missile against Russian “civilian infrastructure” on July 28.

“The drone attacks have not been condemned by the West, because in many cases, they had the West’s involvement,” the Global Times said through one of its “Chinese expert” mouthpieces, arguing that since Ukraine’s much-touted counteroffensive against the Russian invasion force appears to have stalled out, the Ukrainians need to bring down Russian morale with terror strikes.

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) on Tuesday quoted analysts who saw China’s loudly announced export controls on drones as a signal to the West that Beijing intends to stay out of the Ukraine conflict, even if Moscow pleads for help.

“The decision could be seen as a compromise to avoid losing the international market and potential sanctions from the West, especially after the United States claimed that it had found exports of China-made drones to Russia. To protect its national interest, Beijing needs to make its neutral position clear, especially amid increasing pressure from the West,” said analyst Antony Wong Tong.

Zhou Chenming, a researcher at a Beijing-based think tank, conceded that a sizable number of Chinese components are turning up in Russian drones shot down by the Ukrainians — including drones sent to attack Western-supplied armor and artillery — so it was important for China to make a clear statement that it will not directly sell such components to the Russian war machine.