Since the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine, China has been providing economic and security support to Russia, and the United States has even considered imposing sanctions on some Chinese companies. Now the US intelligence has published a report, the data of which confirms a significant increase of Chinese exports to Russia.
This is reported by Reuters with reference to the US intelligence report.
China and Russia
Materials of the report directly focused on the threat from China and Russia, but the risks of a wider conflict in connection with Israel's campaign against Hamas are also mentioned.
The report materials confirm the aspect of China's economic and security support to Russia. In particular, the report notes that the Chinese government is supporting Russia's industrial base.
It is also noted that trade between the two countries has increased since the start of the full-scale war, as Chinese exports of "goods with potential military use rose more than threefold since 2022."
Aid to Ukraine is a clear signal to China
With this in mind, Director of National Intelligence Evril Haines indicated in her testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee to approve more military assistance for Ukraine. She commented that she found it hard to imagine how Ukraine could defend the territory it has already recaptured without the necessary assistance from Washington.
In addition, Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns, like Evril Haines, said that continued support for Ukraine would send a clear signal to China of aggression toward Taiwan or in the South China Sea, noting the following:
"It is our assessment that (Chinese leader) Xi Jinping was sobered, you know, by what happened. ... He didn't expect that Ukraine would resist with the courage and tenacity the Ukrainians demonstrated."
China and the US
Also U.S. intelligence agencies, citing the report, said the country faces an "increasingly fragile world order," strained by great power competition, transnational challenges and regional conflicts.
The agencies' 2024 report said the following factors pose challenges for the U.S.:
"An ambitious but anxious China, a confrontational Russia, some regional powers, such as Iran, and more capable non-state actors are challenging longstanding rules of the international system as well as U.S. primacy within it."
In addition to China's ties to Russia, the report also noted that China could use technology to try to influence this year's U.S. elections. Here's how the report's materials stated:
"(China) may attempt to influence the U.S. elections in 2024 at some level because of its desire to sideline critics of China and magnify U.S. societal divisions."
We will remind, earlier the Pentagon warned about the consequences of weakening aid to Ukraine.