US Deputy State Secretary Warns of Escalating Russia–China Partnership

U.S. Deputy State Secretary Kurt Campbell visited Brussels this week and met with senior EU, NATO, and Belgian officials, after which he told reporters he had great concerns over the escalating partnership between Russia and China leveling out military advantages the United States might have had over the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

“These new areas of collaboration between Russia and China are in the areas of design and … application,” Campbell said at a press conference on Sept. 10. “They are significant.”

Campbell said the cooperation was “not a tactical alliance“ but ”a fundamental alignment” that was “orchestrated at the highest levels of the two states.”

“China supplies weapons and parts, while Russia provides support in developing China’s military capabilities,” he said. This is a new development.

“The capabilities that Russia is providing is support in areas where previously they had been frankly reluctant to engage directly with China,” Campbell said.

Campbell said that Russia has been engaging with the CCP in research and support in new military areas, including submarines, aeronautical design, stealth technology, and missile capabilities.

Chinese advances in submarines, for example, could undermine the United States’ current undersea advantages.

Russian help to perfect certain military capabilities for China would have “an important, negative and concerning impact” on other nations in the Indo-Pacific region, Campbell said, calling on European nations to be more forceful in condemning and blocking Russia–China cooperation.

When the Russia–Ukraine conflict first broke out, the CCP ignored international calls for China to condemn the war. While officially stating that it has not taken a side, the Chinese regime has continually traded technologies needed for Russian military use and found ways to help Russia work around international sanctions, according to the U.S.–China Economic and Security Review Commission.

Campbell said the parts and technology that China sends to Russia are not dual-use materials that could conceivably have alternative applications beyond the Russian military.

“These are basically being applied directly to the Russian war machine,” he told reporters.

“These are component pieces of a very substantial effort on the part of China to help sustain, build, and diversify various elements of the Russian war machine. We’re seeing efforts at the highest levels of both governments to try to both hide and protect certain elements of this worrisome collaboration. … Most of these activities have been driven underground.”

Campbell said on Tuesday that the United States has asked European officials to more publicly state their concern and willingness to take action.

Last week, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called out the CCP as a “decisive enabler“ in the Russian war for its part in the production of many of the weapons used by the Russian military.

Chinese state-run media announced on Sept. 9 that a joint Russia–China military exercise would take place this month to enhance their coordination at strategic and military response levels. The navy drills will take place in the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sept. 10 cast the joint exercise as the Russia–China version of the joint exercises by Indo-Pacific nations and ally United States.

Putin said the forces would incorporate lessons learned from their “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Russia and China are also carrying out joint exercises in the Pacific Ocean, Arctic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Baltic Sea, and Caspian Sea.

Russian navy commander Alexander Moiseyev said four Chinese vessels and 15 planes were conducting exercises with Russian forces. Russia is participating with 90,000 servicemen, 400 vessels, 125 aircraft, and 7,500 weapons.

Campbell is on a week-long trip to Europe. After leading the U.S. delegation in the seventh U.S.–EU Dialogue on China and in the sixth round of U.S.–EU High-Level Consultations on the Indo-Pacific in Brussels, he traveled to the UK for strategy talks with officials on similar topics. He will next travel to Lithuania for talks with Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian officials and end the trip with meetings in Iceland.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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