China Is Shipping Russia 'All the Inputs Necessary' for Its Military, Blinken Says

Although China isn’t yet directly shipping weapons and other armaments to Russia’s military, Beijing is “making, in effect, investments in Russia's defense industrial base in ways that are allowing it to continue” its war against Ukraine, said Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking during a July 1 event hosted by the Brookings Institution. He said 70% of the machine tools and 90% of the microelectronics being imported by Russia are coming from China.

Beijing is “providing all the inputs necessary” for Moscow to sustain its war effort, he said, “despite the important impact that sanctions and export controls have had.” Analysts have said Western export controls aren’t doing enough to stop Russia from importing sensitive electronics and parts for its military (see 2406250057).

Blinken said the U.S., the EU and other allies need to continue supporting Ukraine. China policy experts and lawmakers have said Beijing is watching the U.S. response to the Russia-Ukraine war to plan for a possible invasion of Taiwan (see 2401220060).

“Our partners in Asia again understand that if you allow aggression to go unchecked anywhere, it becomes a greater threat everywhere,” Blinken said. “A would-be aggressor who sees that Russia is being allowed to proceed with impunity in Europe -- they get their own ideas in a very different part of the world.”