China ‘effectively sided with Russia’ in war against Ukraine – U.S. ambassador

U.S. Ambassador to Beijing Nicholas Burns has said that China is not a neutral country, it has “effectively sided” with Russia in the war against Ukraine.

He said this during a speech in the Chinese financial hub of Shanghai, Ukrinform reports citing Sky News.

The diplomat noted that China is providing a range of technologies to Russia while maintaining strong trade ties with the aggressor state despite its claims of neutrality.

"We think it's a major mistake to allow Chinese companies, by the thousands, to be sending so many components, technology components, microprocessors (and) nitrocellulose to Russia to reinforce and strengthen the defence industrial base of the Russian Federation for this brutal war," Burns said.

He said Russia's invasion, now in its third year, had become an "existential crisis" in Europe.

China "is not neutral, but has effectively sided with Russia in this war", the U.S. ambassador added.

As Ukrinform reported, on June 18, at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that nearly 70% of the machine tools and 90% of the microelectronics that Russia is importing are coming from China.