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The US seems to be complacent as China heeds its warnings about supporting Russia or pretends to heed. Two months after the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine and fears that Beijing is ready to help Russia in its struggle, senior US officials reportedly claimed that they have not found any open Chinese military or economic assistance to Moscow, which is a welcome development in tense US-Chinese relations.
Anonymous U.S. officials have reportedly told Reuters that they remain wary of China’s support for Russia in general, but that the military and economic support they worried about has not materialized, at least for the moment.
“We have not seen the PRC provide direct military support to Russia or make a systematic effort to help Russia avoid our sanctions,” Reuters cited an official in the Biden administration. “We continue to monitor the PRC and any other country that might support Russia or otherwise evade U.S. and partner sanctions,” he added.
In addition to avoiding direct support for Russia’s military efforts, China has avoided new contracts between some of its state-owned refining companies and Moscow, despite large discounts. In March, state-run Sinopec Group suspended talks on major petrochemical investments and a gas marketing venture in Russia.
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On the other hand, private Chinese refineries are buying Russian oil at a discount while state traders are afraid of sanctions. As a representative of one of the refineries in Shandong told the FT, since the start of the special military operation in Ukraine, it has not publicly reported on deals with Russian suppliers in order not to attract attention and not fall under U.S. sanctions. At the same time, he said, the refinery took over some of the quotas for the purchase of Russian oil from state-owned traders.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that China was dealing with a “significant reputational risk” of being an ally of Russia and that “so far we see no significant support from China for Russia’s military actions.”
China has a very cunning and shrewd policy. Since the public sector cannot cooperate directly with Russia because of possible U.S. sanctions, China works through the private sector. Moreover, the influence of the public sector on the private one is very strong, and in fact, the public sector controls the private sector. Therefore, China buys Russian energy resources and avoids U.S. sanctions, which is a very thoughtful policy.
