The Pentagon on Monday warned China there would be “consequences” if Beijing provided material support to Russia in its war against Ukraine.
“If China does choose to materially support Russia in this war, there’ll likely be consequences for China in that regard,” a senior U.S. defense official said during a Pentagon background briefing on Monday.
“We have seen China basically give tacit approval to what Russia is going by refusing to join sanctions, by blaming the West and the United States for the assistance we’ve given Ukraine, by claiming they wanted to see a peaceful outcome but essentially doing nothing to achieve it,” the official added.
The official declined to say what those consequences would be.
The Financial Times reported Monday that the U.S. had briefed allies that China has “signaled its willingness” to provide military assistance to Russia after Moscow requested surface-to-air missiles, drones, intelligence-related equipment, armored vehicles, and logistics and support vehicles.
The report cited “officials familiar with American diplomatic cables.” The officials said the U.S. did not provide allies with the intelligence underpinning its assessments.
The U.S. cable also said China was expected to deny those plans, according to a Reuters report. A U.S. official told Reuters about China’s consideration of those requests, “It’s real, it’s consequential, and it’s really alarming.”
The Chinese embassy has denied knowledge of any Russian request, and Russia denied making any such request.
The leaks came as National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan prepared to meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi Rome.
A White House statement said after the meeting that Sullivan raised a “range of issues in U.S.-China relations, with substantial discussion of Russia’s war against Ukraine.”
A senior administration official told reporters, “We have deep concerns about China’s alignment with Russia at this time, and the national security adviser was direct about those concerns and the potential implications and consequences of certain actions.”
The official added that Sullivan described to Yang “the unity of the United States and its allies and partners…in bringing costs on Russia for its actions.”
The State Department also warned Beijing against helping Moscow.
State Department Press Secretary Ned Price said Monday, “We are watching very closely to the extent to which the [People’s Republic of China] or any country in the world provides support, material, economic, financial, rhetorical or otherwise, to this war of choice that President Putin is waging. We have been very clear, both privately with Beijing, publicly with Beijing, that there would be consequences for any such support.”
It is not the first time the U.S. has sought help from Beijing on Russia.
The New York Times recently reported that over a period of three months, senior Biden Administration officials held half a dozen urgent meetings with top Chinese officials where the Americans presented intelligence of Russia’s troop buildup around Ukraine and tried to convince the Chinese to tell Russia not to invade.
The Chinese not only rebuffed the Americans but also shared the information with Moscow, telling the Russians that the U.S. was trying to sow discord and that China would not try to impede Russian plans and actions, the Times reported.
“There’s nothing wrong with talking to our adversaries, but I think it’s a little naive to think that somehow we’re going to convince the Chinese to go to their allies — the Russians — and say, ‘The Americans know where your troops are, so you shouldn’t invade,'” former Trump administration National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien recently told a small group of reporters on Capitol Hill before meeting with lawmakers on the Republican Study Committee.
“I think it maybe was a little naive to expect that we were going to get aid from the Chinese on this issue. I mean — especially when China, at the same time that this is happening, China’s sending fighter jets into the air defense identification zone of Taiwan,” he added. “So, it was a little surprising.”
O’Brien told Breitbart News that Putin would not have invaded Ukraine if he did not have the support of Xi.
“They — he and Xi — got together at the Olympics. There’s no doubt they talked about this. China is building pipelines and buying oil from Russia. And they’re basically telling the Russians, ‘If you’re cut off from the West, don’t worry, you got access to the Chinese market.’”
“So they’re certainly supporting Russia. And they’d also like to see the precedent of Russia taking Ukraine to give them a precedent for taking Taiwan. So we’ve gotta be very tough on China,” he said.
Follow Breitbart News’s Kristina Wong on Twitter or on Facebook.
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