War in Ukraine: China plans to send ‘weapons’ to Russia, Blinken says

The US Secretary of State said he has information that China plans to provide “deadly support” to Russia.

By Le Figaro with AFP

Published 2/19/2023 at 4:29 PM, updated 2/19/2023 at 4:56 PM

Beijing is considering supplying “weapons” to Russia to support its offensive in Ukraine, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Sunday after meeting his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. “We talked about the war that Russia is waging and the concerns we have that China is planning to provide lethal support to Russia,” he said on CBS, explaining that he has information about it. When asked what that would mean in concrete terms, the chief of American diplomacy replied: “Mostly weapons”.

The two men met on Saturday evening in Munich on the sidelines of the security conference for an exchange that American diplomacy described as “open and direct”. The Secretary of State warned of the “impact and consequences” for China if it were found to be “materially assisting” Russia in its war in Ukraine or helping it escape Western sanctions, State Department spokesman Ned Price said. in a report the interview.

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American Vice President Kamala Harris, who was in Munich on Saturday, also questioned the neutrality shown by China. The United States is “concerned that Beijing has deepened its ties with Moscow since the beginning of the war,” she said. “Any attempt by China to provide lethal support to Russia would only reward aggression, continue the killing and further undermine a rules-based order,” the vice president warned.