According to U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, the Chinese regime may be considering providing lethal aid to Russia, which would be an unprecedented escalation of China’s involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war. Blinken informed ABC’s “This Week” program that the United States has information that Beijing is looking into providing weapons for the conflict. He further warned that such assistance to Russia would lead to “serious consequences” for the U.S.-China relationship.
At the Munich Security Conference, China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, spoke of working on a “peace proposal” to reconcile the two sides of the conflict. However, Blinken indicated that the stipulated intention appears to run contrary to what is indicated in intelligence held by the United States.
Hours before the meeting between Blinken and Wang, the Chinese regime threatened that the United States “should be prepared to bear all consequence arising from an escalation” of the surveillance balloon incident, in which a Chinese spy balloon was shot down by an F-22 fighter jet after entering U.S. airspace without permission.
After Blinken spoke to ABC on Sunday, Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) warned in the same program that Beijing providing military aid to Moscow would have “catastrophic” consequences for the U.S.-China relationship. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, also echoed Graham’s comments, saying that the United States made clear to the Chinese that there will be consequences should they make the “unfortunate decision” to provide lethal support to Russia.