Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi this week in Guangzhou. Kuleba is the highest-ranking Ukrainian official to travel to China since Russia’s February 2022 invasion. As Western support for Ukraine wanes and Chinese supplies to Russia’s war machine grow, Ukraine has sought to enlist Beijing in playing a greater role to bring about peace. Ken Moritsugu and Samya Kullab from the Associated Press described the Ukrainian and Chinese positions by the end their meeting:
“I am convinced that a just peace in Ukraine is in China’s strategic interests, and China’s role as a global force for peace is important,” Kuleba said in opening remarks.
[…] Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talking about Kuleba’s meeting in an evening video statement, said “there is a clear signal that China supports Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty” and that “it was also confirmed … that China will not supply weapons to Russia.”
A Chinese Foreign Ministry statement on the meeting quoted Wang saying that four principles previously outlined by Chinese President Xi Jinping provide important guidelines for resolving the crisis.
One of the principles says that “all countries deserve respect for their sovereignty and territorial integrity” but another says that “the legitimate security concerns of any party should be taken seriously” — a reference to Russia’s opposition to NATO expansion. [Source]
China refused to participate in a peace summit hosted by Switzerland last month, arguing that it would not attend if Russia were not invited. The gap between Ukraine and China has since widened. “We must avoid competing peace plans. It is very important that Kyiv and Beijing conduct a direct dialogue and exchange positions,” Kuleba said after landing in China. Kuleba added that Ukraine was ready to engage “when Russia is ready to negotiate in good faith,” but “no such readiness is currently observed on the Russian side.” Alexandra Stevenson and Constant Méheut from The New York Times reported that the ramped-up efforts to persuade China to facilitate negotiations are a result of Ukraine needing to be more realistic about its future leverage in the war:
“The Chinese wanted to play the role of a peacemaker and they weren’t able to before because the timing was not mature, in that Ukraine still believed that it could prevail in winning the war on its own terms,” said [Yun Sun, the director of the China program at the Stimson Center].
In Kyiv, there has been a growing understanding that peace talks without China’s participation “will not be meaningful,” said Nataliya Butyrska, an expert on Ukrainian-Asian relations at the Kyiv-based New Europe Center, a foreign policy think tank.
“China is a country that can push Russia to engage in peace talks,” Ms. Butyrska said, adding that Mr. Kuleba’s visit partly aimed to secure Beijing’s participation in the second peace summit.
Ukraine wants to speed up peace talks partly because of the prospect of a Trump victory in the U.S. presidential election this autumn, she said. Mr. Trump’s vow to end the war quickly has raised fears in Kyiv that he would push for a peace deal that would allow Russia to keep the territory it occupies today and leave it in a position to attack Ukraine again. [Source]
While in China, Kuleba traveled to Hong Kong, where he highlighted the city’s role in helping Russia evade sanctions. A recent New York Times analysis showed that since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has imported nearly $4 billion in restricted chips, many of which flowed through shell companies in Hong Kong. Nectar Gan, Maria Kostenko, and Chris Lau from CNN reported on Kuleba’s criticism of Hong Kong’s weak sanctions enforcement:
The United States and European Union have sanctioned dozens of companies in Hong Kong and mainland China for evading the extensive measures imposed on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine, including the supply of critical dual‑use goods such as semiconductors.
Kuleba “called on the Hong Kong administration to take measures to prevent Russia and Russian companies from using Hong Kong to circumvent the restrictive measures imposed for Russia’s aggression against Ukraine,” according to a statement from Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Ministry issued after the minister met with Hong Kong leader John Lee.
“These restrictive measures are necessary to weaken Russia’s capacity to wage war and kill people in Ukraine,” it added. “The Minister stressed that Russia’s machinations should not spoil Hong Kong’s reputation as a highly developed liberal economy based on unwavering respect for the rule of law.” [Source]
Hong Kong is not the only place where Chinese companies help circumvent sanctions against Russia. Takayuki Tanaka and Yusuke Hinata from Nikkei Asia reported that Chinese companies have been exporting precision parts used in Russian weapons to a Belarusian defense contractor, even after it was sanctioned:
China insists that it does not provide weapons support for the Russian war effort in Ukraine, but the records indicate that Chinese companies may be knowingly contributing to Russia’s arms supply. The U.S. and European countries are monitoring the situation as they seek to tighten the international sanctions regime.
Belarussian opposition group BelPol obtained contracts, payment records and other information from multiple industry sources on transactions between companies in Belarus and China.
According to these records, Shenzhen-based Green Cycle Energy received an order from Belarussian defense contractor BelOMO Holding for 3,000 components for the LAD-21T laser module on Dec. 1. The cutting-edge module is used to aim laser-guided bombs and missiles.
The payment was made in yuan. The Shanghai branch of Russia’s state-owned VTB Bank was involved. [Source]
There have also been growing number of reports that China may be assisting Russia by producing attack drones, suggesting a more direct role in supporting Russia’s military actions in Ukraine. Shibani Mahtani and Pei-Lin Wu from The Washington Post reported on one Chinese company, sanctioned by the U.S., that directly provides Russia with tools to produce military equipment:
One of the companies that has benefited from Russia’s hunger for these goods is a midsize laser machine tool company called Shandong Oree Laser Technology Co. — one of dozens of Chinese companies that the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned last month.
The Washington Post reviewed company records, videos, advertising materials and other open-source material to sketch a profile of Oree Laser, offering a glimpse into the myriad ways the Russian war effort relies on Chinese industry.
Oree Laser is emblematic of the vital and increasing support that Chinese companies are providing to Russia: It makes fiber laser cutters, which have civilian applications but are also used in the production of military drones, a weapon that has defined the war in Ukraine.
[…] A review of the United Nations’ Comtrade database following NATO’s unprecedented assertion this month showed that China exported more than $245 million worth of laser machine tools to Russia last year and $162 million in 2022, according to the latest available U.N. Comtrade data. Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. In 2021, Chinese exports of laser machine tools to Russia totaled only $90 million, according to the database.
[…] The company’s fiber laser tools are an example of machines that have been used by Russia’s defense industry to produce military drones, reactive armor and other military equipment, said Allen Maggard, an analyst at the Washington-based global security nonprofit C4ADS, who reviewed Oree Laser’s company advertisements. [Source]
