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EU discusses China's support for Russia, including possible arms shipments

2025-12-15 17:28:54, Kosova & Bota CNA

The European Union will hold high-level talks to discuss Beijing's growing support for Moscow and to examine evidence that China may be sending weapons to Russia for use on the battlefield in Ukraine, three diplomats from the bloc told Radio Free Europe.

Foreign ministers from the bloc's 27 member states will meet on December 15 for talks on deepening China's ties with Russia, with an EU diplomat saying Brussels sees "growing Chinese support".

"What we are seeing is that without China's support for Russia in this war, Russia probably wouldn't be able to do what it is doing," an EU diplomat told Radio Free Europe, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Another EU diplomat added that the meeting will focus on the latest information about possible shipments of Chinese weapons to Russia that are being used in Ukraine, which, if confirmed, would mark a new level of support from Beijing, beyond the continued supply of dual-use goods, both civilian and military, which have bolstered the Kremlin's war effort since the launch of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The official did not comment on what kind of Chinese weapons or equipment may have been deployed in Ukraine. Chinese parts have been a key component of Russia’s drone industry, which is a vital part of the broader war effort in Ukraine — from surveillance to suicide attacks — with Ukrainian intelligence saying in October that China was providing Russia with satellite information on targets in Ukraine.

Beijing claims to be neutral in the nearly four-year war in Ukraine and has repeatedly said it has not supplied Russia with weapons, but China has also continued to deepen its political and economic relations with Moscow, including maintaining its status as one of the main buyers of Russian oil and as an increasingly large trading partner.

But China's deepening relations with Russia have put Beijing in the crosshairs of Europe, with the EU declaring in July that China, including Hong Kong, is responsible for "approximately" 80 percent of sanctions evasion against Russia.

In addition to indications of growing support for Moscow, EU ministers will also focus on the bloc's economic relations with China, including Chinese export controls on strategic rare earth minerals, security issues in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, and ongoing geopolitical tensions around the Dutch-based but Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia.

The foreign ministers of France and Germany will also brief other EU ministers on recent visits to Beijing this month, where both delegations raised the issue of China's close relations with Russia.

In July, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas that Beijing could not accept Russia's defeat in war, as that would give Washington space to focus on China. The comments were first reported by the South China Morning Post and later confirmed by Radio Free Europe./REL