A Western official and a US diplomat told CNN that the US has information suggesting China has expressed some interest in providing Russia with requested military and financial assistance as part of its war on Ukraine, and that the US is passing this information on to its NATO allies.

According to US officials familiar with the intelligence, it is still unclear whether China intends to provide that assistance to Russia. But, according to a senior administration official, during a seven-hour meeting in Rome, a top aide to President Joe Biden warned his Chinese counterpart of “potential implications and consequences” for China if support for Russia is forthcoming.

As Biden works to isolate and punish Russia for its aggression in Ukraine, the series of events highlighted the growing concern among American officials about the budding partnership between Moscow and Beijing. While Chinese officials have stated that the Chinese President is concerned about what has happened since Russia invaded, there is little evidence that China is willing to cut off Russia’s support completely.

This raises the possibility, which American officials are concerned about, that China will help prolong a bloody conflict that is increasingly killing civilians while also cementing an authoritarian alliance in direct competition with the US.

In a diplomatic cable, the US informed its European and Asian allies that China had expressed a willingness to assist Russia, which had requested military assistance. The cable did not state categorically that help had been given. According to one official, the US warned China in the cable that it would likely deny its willingness to help.

According to two sources familiar with the situation, Russia requested pre-packaged, non-perishable military food kits, known in the United States as “meal, ready-to-eat,” or MREs. The request highlights the basic logistical challenges that have stymied Russian progress in Ukraine, according to military analysts and officials, and raises concerns about the Russian military’s fundamental readiness.

As the Invasion has progressed, forward-deployed units have routinely outstripped their supply convoys, and open source reports have shown Russian troops breaking into grocery stores in search of food. One source speculated that food might be a request that China would be willing to fulfill because it falls short of lethal assistance, which the west would regard as highly provocative.

MORE:

• Can China Support the Russia-Ukraine Ceasefire?
• Ukraine conflict: Residents of Dnipro jolt into action terrified but coping

According to one of the sources, the Chinese Communist Party leadership is divided on how to respond to Russia’s request for assistance. According to two officials, China’s desire to avoid economic consequences may limit its willingness to assist Russia. Separately, officials told CNN that Chinese President Xi Jinping is concerned about how the Ukraine conflict has re-energized the NATO alliance.

“Some people are worried that their involvement will harm China’s economic relationships with the West,” one of the sources said.

Officials are also keeping an eye on whether China provides some economic and diplomatic relief to Russia in other ways, such as UN abstention votes.

According to State Department spokesperson Ned Price, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan and a US delegation meeting with top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi in Rome “raised directly and very clearly” concerns about Chinese “support to Russia in the aftermath of the invasion, and the implications that any such support would have for” China’s relationship with the US and partners around the world.

At a State Department briefing on Monday, Price said, “That includes allies and partners in Europe and the Indo-Pacific.”

Concerns about China’s possible involvement in the conflict grew as shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, increased and Russia’s military campaign moved westward. Even so, signs that Russia’s armed forces are being hampered by Ukrainian fighters remained, underscoring Russia’s need for outside help.

A senior US defense official told reporters on Monday that Ukrainian forces have “effectively struck Russian logistics and sustainment capabilities” in the war. Furthermore, the US believes that Russia’s missile strikes on a Ukrainian military training center in western Ukraine will have no bearing on American efforts to supply weapons to that country’s military.

People familiar with the plans said Biden, who is working to rally international support for Ukraine, could travel to Europe soon to consult with allies there, though no trip had been finalized as of Monday. His administration is also thinking about speeding up the resettlement of Ukrainian refugees with ties to the United States. The president of Ukraine, Volodomyr Zelensky, plans to virtually address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, putting increased pressure on the US president to help displaced Ukrainians.

The United States is watching how China reacts to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

US officials expected Yang to portray China as a neutral partner willing to help facilitate talks between the two sides aimed at ending hostilities before the meeting. China’s diplomatic efforts have stepped up in recent days, including a phone call between Xi and the leaders of France and Germany last week meant to signal a willingness to take a more proactive role in the crisis.

Given China’s recent closeness to Russia, the US has viewed those efforts with skepticism. In addition, US officials said over the weekend that they had information that Russia had requested military assistance from China, including drones, as its invasion progressed more slowly than the Kremlin had anticipated. Both the Chinese and Russian governments have publicly denied making the request.

On Sunday, Sullivan told CNN that China’s support for Russia is a “concern.”

“We’re also keeping a close eye on China to see if it provides any kind of assistance to Russia, whether it’s material or financial. It is something that we are concerned about. And we’ve told Beijing that we won’t stand by and let any country compensate Russia for the losses it’s suffered as a result of the economic sanctions “Sullivan explained.

According to American officials, Xi has been shaken by Russia’s invasion and the military’s performance, which has suffered logistical and strategic setbacks since the invasion began more than two weeks ago. Xi, who was watching from Beijing, was taken aback by the fact that his own intelligence had been unable to predict what had occurred, despite the fact that the US had been warning of an invasion for weeks, according to officials.

“It’s very possible that Putin lied to them, just as he lied to Europeans and others,” Sullivan said on CNN on Sunday.

Because of the widespread condemnation of Russia’s actions, China is weighing the potential damage to its reputation if it continues to support Russian President Vladimir Putin. And a trade war with Europe or the United States could hurt China’s economy, which is already growing at a slower pace than it has in 30 years.

For all of these reasons, American officials believe that now is the time to engage with China as it considers how to respond to Russia’s aggression. Officials from the United States and China have been in contact on a regular basis in recent weeks, including in the run-up to Russia’s invasion.

Price said the US is “very closely watching the extent to which the PRC” — another name for China — “or any other country, for that matter, provides any form of support to Russia, whether that support is material, economic, or financial.”

He stated, “Any such support from anywhere in the world would be of great concern to us.”

He didn’t respond to specific questions about the diplomatic cable.

“We’ve made it clear to Beijing that we’re not going to stand by…. We will not accept compensation from each country for Russia’s losses “Added he.

The Chinese response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been described as “ambivalent” by Price.

“I recently read a statement from a PRC official who described the situation as “complicated.” There’s nothing difficult about it. This is outright hostility “he stated

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has thrown the country’s relationship with China into disarray.

Sullivan’s meeting in Rome on Monday was supposed to be a follow-up to US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s nearly three-hour virtual summit in November, which came as US officials began warning of a massive buildup of Russian troops along Ukraine’s borders. According to a Chinese readout of the call, Xi warned Biden that dividing the world into competing blocs would “inevitably bring disaster.”

However, Russia’s invasion has done more to align the world in competing alliances than anything Biden has done to strengthen American ties — an outcome that American intelligence has discovered Xi was also unprepared for, believing instead that European economic interests would prevent countries from imposing severe sanctions.

This dynamic has complicated a relationship that Xi and Putin declared to have “no bounds” in a lengthy document signed in February, when Putin visited Beijing for talks and to attend the Winter Olympics’ opening ceremony. Officials say Xi was enraged by the US decision to stage a diplomatic boycott of the Games, emphasizing the importance of Putin’s presence in the stadium.

The White House has been closely monitoring China’s evolving response to the Russian invasion, which has ranged from denial to avoiding public condemnation to presenting itself as a possible mediator. The White House is particularly concerned about the possibility of a Moscow-Beijing alliance. Last week, CIA Director Bill Burns said the partnership had “a lot of very cold-blooded reasons.”

Since before the war in Ukraine, a new “axis” has been forming in opposition to American-led efforts to strengthen regional security, including in the economic, political, and military sectors. However, according to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, the US does not consider the partnership to be fully developed.

“We don’t see ourselves as being at the point where we are, say, with allies,” Haines said. “They have not attained that level of cooperation, and we believe it is unlikely that they will do so in the next five years… to the extent that we are an ally with our other NATO members in that context.”

The post China has expressed an interest in providing Russia with military and financial assistance appeared first on Rush Hour Daily News | Breaking News, U.S & World News, Politics & Opinions - News around the Worlds.