Moscow may have shared information with Beijing about the capabilities of American weapons systems it has encountered in its invasion of Ukraine, a group of U.S. lawmakers say.
The claims, which were made in a letter to White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, came as the Chinese and Russian navies carried out joint training drills off China’s southern coast.
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Signed by Reps. John Moolenaar and Raja Krishnamoorthi, who are the lead Republican and Democrat, respectively, on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, the letter asks how much Russia has shared with China about countering U.S. arms systems.
America has provided about $53.7 billion in military aid to Ukraine since Russia invaded the country in February 2020, including artillery, drones and air defense systems, according to the State Department.
“As the United States and our NATO allies continue to stand with Ukraine against Russia’s war of aggression, recent reports have detailed alarming levels of Russian adaptation that have undermined the effectiveness of several U.S. weapons systems,” the letter says.
It also points to Sullivan's remarks during last week's NATO summit that it was wrong to assume China's extensive material support to Russia to aid its defense industrial base was being offered "for free."
“Rather,” the letter continues, “we should anticipate and indeed operate under the assumption that Russia is passing information about vulnerabilities or counters to American and allied weapons systems to [China] in support of its ‘no limits’ partnership.”
A spokesperson for the White House’s National Security Council did not respond to a request for comment about the claims.
Joint drills
The letter follows growing concerns about the growing military cooperation between Russia and China, which many in the U.S. defense community say has its own plans to invade Taiwan.
At their summit in Washington last week, the 32 member nations of NATO issued a sternly worded statement labeling China a " decisive enabler" of Russia's war effort and calling for it to end the support.
Just days later, Beijing and Moscow launched joint naval exercises off China’s southern coast, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
The drills, which are taking place off the coast of the city of Zhanjiang, near the border with Vietnam, will include "anchorage defense, joint reconnaissance and early warning, joint search and rescue, and joint air defense and missile defense," Xinhua reported on Monday.
Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, did not respond directly to questions from Radio Free Asia about any information sharing between Russia and China but defended the closer relations between the two countries amid the Ukraine war.
He said the United States should stop “maliciously speculating and hyping up the ‘China threat’” and drop its “zero-sum” mindset.
“China-Russia cooperation has no limits, but it does have a bottom line, that is the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter, the international law and basic norms governing international relations. These are the guidelines for China to deal with relations with any country,” Liu said.
“On the Ukraine crisis, it is quite clear to the international community who is calling for dialogue and striving for peace, and who is fueling the fight and inciting confrontation,” the spokesperson added.