© Wikipedia While there’s no official affirmation of Chinese arms deliveries, circumstantial evidence exists.
China has once more denied claims regarding the supply of lethal arms to Russia. This declaration arose following a report by the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service about the destruction of a Chinese-manufactured Type-63 MLRS in the Toretsk region, as reported by Ukrinform on November 21.
“I have no knowledge of the matter you mentioned. I want to emphasize that China has never furnished, nor does it furnish, lethal weaponry to any faction involved in the conflict,” stated Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, during a press briefing. She was responding to a query on how Chinese-made arms came to be used by the Russian occupying army in Ukraine.
“The Chinese government exercises stringent control over the export of both military items and dual-use goods,” the Foreign Ministry spokesperson added.
However, she avoided giving a direct answer regarding any intentions of the Chinese side to launch an inquiry into how the Chinese weapons ended up with the Russians.
China has consistently emphasized its position of not supplying lethal arms to Russia, or any other “parties to the conflict.” Nonetheless, intelligence data indicates that since the commencement of the full-scale invasion, China has notably augmented its provision of military-related goods to Russia, encompassing drone components, and has even established joint ventures for the production of such items.
In late September, Reuters disclosed that a subsidiary of the Russian defense firm Almaz-Antey, known as Kupol, had created and tested a long-range combat drone in China. The corporation also intends to mass-produce these drones in China for deployment in the war against Ukraine.
Yet, even if the Chinese aren’t currently directly providing weapons to the Russians, the growing trade and economic partnership between China and Russia, notably the offering of technologies for weapons development, positions Beijing, in the perception of Ukraine and European nations, as a direct participant in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.