Recent reports have revealed that the Chinese communist regime is providing technology to Russia for its war in Ukraine, despite international sanctions and export controls. A Wall Street Journal review of Russian customs data on Feb. 4 demonstrated that state-owned defense companies in China have been shipping navigation equipment, jamming technology, and jet-fighter parts to sanctioned Russian government-owned defense companies. Private Chinese companies have also been exporting military and civilian dual-use goods to Russia.
The WSJ review analyzed more than 84,000 shipments recorded by Russia’s customs office since the West launched economic sanctions on Russia last year, particularly goods that are critical to Russia’s military. The records include details of each shipment, such as dates, shippers, recipients, purchasers, addresses, and product descriptions. The review noted that records may not include all shipments.
The sanctions have not stopped Russia from obtaining the technologies it needs for its military, including semiconductors, through countries that have not joined the U.S.-led export controls, such as Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and China, as the WSJ’s review of customs and corporate records show. An analyst from NGO C4ADS commented that Chinese state-owned defense companies are still sending military-applicable parts to sanctioned Russian defense companies, which have been recorded using these parts in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
A spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy to the United States denied “China provides ‘aid’ to Russia.” International media have reported that millions of chips made in the Netherlands have flowed to Russia through Chinese and Hong Kong companies to evade sanctions. According to the Institute of International Finance (IIF), Russia’s semiconductor purchases totaled $2.45 billion between January and September last year, with 40% of the purchases coming from China and Hong Kong. Dutch national broadcaster NOS reported that since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, millions of Dutch-made chips have been resold to Russia through Chinese companies.
U.S.-based current affairs commentator Wang He told The Epoch Times that the Chinese communist regime will continue its current policy, “which is not to publicly condemn Russia, meanwhile aid Russian in private. In its dealing with the United States, it will flatly deny that Chinese state-owned companies are acting on behalf of the Chinese regime.” Su Tze-yun, director of the Taiwanese think tank The Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told The Epoch Times that the United States’ grand strategy in dealing with the relationship with China and Russia is to first continue to isolate Russia, and then concentrate on dealing with the Chinese communist regime. He predicted that the Ukrainian counterattack in March to April may bring the Russo-Ukrainian War to an end, which will be a turning point for the global political structure. At that time, major countries in the world will focus on encircling the Chinese regime, and their countermeasures against Beijing will increase.
Hou Junlin, Lin Cenxin, and Yi Ru contributed to this report.