By John Ikani
A senior US official has said that Russia has asked China for military assistance in Ukraine, including drones.
White House National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, however, said that China providing Russia with support is a “concern.
Sullivan plans to meet China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi in Rome on Monday and will stress the economic penalties Beijing will face if it helps Russia in its war in Ukraine.
The security adviser will warn of the isolation China could face globally if it continued to support Russia, one US official said, without providing details.
Officials of the United States and other countries have sought to make clear to China in recent weeks that siding with Russia could carry consequences for trade flows, development of new technologies and could expose it to secondary sanctions.
What the US is saying
“We also are watching closely to see the extent to which China actually does provide any form of support, material support or economic support, to Russia. It is a concern of ours,” Sullivan said.
According to him, the US has communicated to China, warning that it will not stand by and allow any country to provide support to Russia for its losses from the economic sanctions.
He said that China has been warned that there would be “absolute consequences” for “large-scale” efforts to give Russia a workaround to US sanctions.
“We will not allow that to go forward and allow there to be a lifeline to Russia from these economic sanctions from any country anywhere in the world,” he said.
